Gone Home: Lord Michael Baden-Powell of Gilwell on 3 July 2023

Celebrating Lord Michael Baden-Powell's life and contributions

The global Scout community is profoundly saddened by the recent loss of Lord Michael Baden-Powell, a truly revered figure within the Scouting world. As the esteemed grandson of the Founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, Lord Michael peacefully journeyed to his heavenly abode on the 3rd of July, 2023, at the age of 82.

Throughout his life, Lord Michael exemplified the Scout Promise, consistently embodying the qualities of a leader, role model, and cherished confidant to countless individuals across the Scout Movement. Today, we come together as a collective to express our deepest appreciation for Lord Michael's unwavering commitment to the progress and betterment of our beloved movement.

 

The global Scout community is deeply saddened by the recent passing of Lord Michael Baden-Powell, grandson of the Founder of Scouting, Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who has Gone Home peacefully on 3 July 2023 at the age of 82.

Michael lived his life by the Scout Promise as a leader, role model, and friend to so many across the Scout Movement. His passion and energy for youth development and education drove him to be strongly involved in Scouting throughout his life, visiting with local Scout groups, as well as attending national events and international gatherings.

Michael was a valued and long-standing BP Fellow, as well as an esteemed member of the Baden-Powell Foundation of Australia, and the Victorian Scout Foundation. Over his 50 years of dedicated service to Scouting, among his many accolades, Michael received the Silver Koala and Silver Kangaroo awards, two of the highest honours for Adult Leaders bestowed by Scouts Australia.

Demonstrating an unwavering commitment towards the Movement, Michael served at all levels of Scouting, first as an Adult Leader in the United Kingdom before relocating and taking on branch roles in Victoria, Australia. Michael was known for his strong leadership, kindness, and generosity, contributing his time and energy to Scouting in service of the world’s leading educational youth movement.

with Jerome Lakshan Perera

Following the passing of his brother Robert in December 2019, Michael assumed the title of the 4th Baron Baden-Powell of Gilwell. The title of Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell, and the 5th Baron of Gilwell, now passes to The Honourable David Baden-Powell, a member of Scouts Australia.

David Michael Baden-Powell, 4th Baron Baden-Powell (11 December 1940 – 3 July 2023) was an Australian insurance sales agent and financial planner, and was active in support of the Scout Movement.

Baden-Powell was the second son of Peter Baden-Powell, 2nd Baron Baden-Powell, and Carine Boardman, inheriting the barony following the death of his elder brother Robert in 2019, and was the grandson of the founder of World Scouting, Robert Baden-Powell, and Olave Baden-Powell, as well as a great-grandson of the mathematician Baden Powell. 

Michael Baden-Powell was born in Sinoia, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the second son of Peter Baden-Powell, later 2nd Baron Baden-Powell, and Carine Crause-Boardman.After his father inherited the peerage, the family moved from Rhodesia to Britain in 1947.He was educated at Pierrepont School, Frensham, England. He worked for Fairey Aviation as a trainee engineer until April 1964, when he migrated to Australia, where he initially worked as a draftsman and eventually became an insurance sales agent.

Baden-Powell married Joan Phillips Berryman in 1966. They had three sons

• David Baden-Powell, 5th Baron Baden-Powell
• Alex Baden-Powell
• Myles Baden-Powell

Baden-Powell lived in Melbourne, Australia, and died on 3 July 2023, at the age of 82. The title passed to his eldest son, David, who is also a member of Scouts Australia

 

Sri Lanka scouts attending coronation ceremony of King Charles III meets President

‘God save the King’: Unforgettable moments from King Charles’ historic coronation

In a ceremony steeped in tradition and grandeur, King Charles III has been crowned as Britain’s new monarch in historic scenes that have not been witnessed by the public in 70 years.

After a lifetime as the heir to his late mother Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles, 74, became the oldest sovereign to be crowned at London’s Westminster Abbey on Saturday, May 6 in front of over 2300 guests and millions watching around the world.

The momentous day began with The King’s Procession as the soon-to-be crowned King and Queen departed Buckingham Palace in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach for Westminster Abbey, followed by other members of the Royal Family.

Accompanied by The Household Calverly, the royal couple were greeted by cheering crowds as they made their way through the streets of London.

Their Majesties entered Westminster Abbey through the Great West Door, upon which the choir sang Hubert Parry’s I was glad, which was composed for the Coronation of King Edward VII.

The Archbishop of Canterbury gave a greeting from the High Altar, welcoming the congregation to the Service. The choir then sang the Kyrie, which was sung in Welsh for the first time.

After being officially recognised as the true monarch, King Charles turned to each point of the compass to receive recognition from key figures. Lady Eilish Angiolini, Christopher Finney, and Baroness Amos were just a few of the esteemed individuals in attendance to recognise the King’s coronation.

The King was then presented with a new Holy Bible commissioned for the service by Lambeth Palace, before taking the Oath and signing copies presented by the Lord Chamberlain. As the choir sang an Anthem by William Byrd, His Majesty kneeled before the High Altar to pray aloud, inspired by the hymn I vow to thee, my country.

The Anointing, regarded as the most sacred element of the ceremony, was conducted away from public view. The Guardsmen of the Household Division ushered in the Anointing Screen, and behind it, the Archbishop of Canterbury anointed the King’s hands, chest, and head. This solemn act, shrouded in secrecy, imbued the ceremony with a profound sense of spiritual significance, underscoring the importance of this momentous occasion.

 

 

Four Rover Scouts from the Sri Lanka Scout Association representing Sri Lanka at the Coronation Camp organised by The Scout Association, United Kingdom called on His Excellency, Ranil Wickramasinghe in London this morning. 

 

The Scouts discussed with the President their role in supporting the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla. Further discussions on the role of young people to take on the future leadership of the country was discussed where the President encouraged the Scouts to actively engage in national and global issues particularly highlighting the global climate crisis. The four Scouts who represented Sri Lanka Scouts at the Coronation were Shalini Perera, Aritha Bandara, Asel Bandara and Sarith Fernando. The participation of the Sri Lanka Scouts at the Coronation Ceremony and meeting with H.E the President was coordinated by Chief Commissioner Attorney-at-Law Janaprith Fernando

 

තුන්වන චාල්ස් රජුගේ රාජාභිෂේක මංගල්‍යයට සහභාගී වූ ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂයින් ජනපති හමුවෙයි

එක්සත් රාජධානියේ බාලදක්ෂ සංගමය විසින් සංවිධානය කරන ලද රාජාභිෂේක කඳවුරට ශ්‍රී ලංකාව නියෝජනය කරමින් සහභාගී වු ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමයේ ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ බාලදක්ෂ, බාලදක්ෂිකාවන් සහ ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා අතර හමුව ඊයේ (07) ලන්ඩන් නුවරදී සිදුවිය.

ශලිනි පෙරේරා, අරිතා බණ්ඩාර, අසේල් බණ්ඩාර සහ සරිත් ප්‍රනාන්දු යන බාලදක්ෂ, බාල දක්ෂිකාවන් සිවුදෙනා රාජාභිෂේකය සඳහා ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ කණ්ඩායම නියෝජනය කළහ.

ඔවුන් සමඟ සුහඳ කථා බහක නිරත වූ ජනාධිපති රනිල් වික්‍රමසිංහ මහතා ගෝලීය දේශගුණික අර්බුදය ඇතුළු ජාතික හා ගෝලීය අවශ්‍යතා සඳහා ක්‍රියාකාරීව නිරත වීමට බාලදක්ෂ, බාලදක්ෂිකාවන් දිරිමත් කළේය.

රටේ අනාගත නායකත්වය භාර ගැනීමට තරුණ පරපූර සූදානම් විය යුතු ආකාරය පිළිබඳව ද ජනාධිපතිවරයා මෙහිදී වැඩිදුරටත් කරුණු පෙන්වා දුන්නේය. ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමයේ ප්‍රධාන කොමසාරිස් නීතීඥ ජනප්‍රිත් ප්‍රනාන්දු මහතාගේ ඉල්ලීමකට අනුව මෙම හමුව සංවිධානය කෙරිණි.

Beauty in the miniscule! an incredibly talented artist from Sri Lanka

Miniature arts are fascinating. They require great talent as well as patience. As archaeologists say, the history of miniature art dates back to prehistory. 

 

 

The attention to fine detail and exquisite craftsmanship is what is fascinating and delightful about miniature art. Today, in a more commercial world, where arts have lost value as a classical hobby, a classical craft, and a classical prestigious career, miniature art has been able to maintain its place as a more lucrative career as well as a hobby.

Miniature art, commonly known as micro art, is popular among modern generations. It is somewhat new to Sri Lanka, although it has been a thing in the world for quite some time. Micro art is about carving, engraving, painting, and moulding miniature models of paintings, architectural structures, and objects which are of normal size. The entire structure of a normal size object is scaled into a micro size and is carved or painted on a micro surface. This is not an easy task. It takes time, patience, and great skill. 

Daya Micro Arts by Dayananda Lokuliyange

Carving on pencils and engraving on rice grains are such micro arts that require great talent. In Sri Lanka, Dayananda Lokuliyanage is one such talented artist. He carves on pencils and rice grains. Seeing his amazing work, we at Ceylon Today contacted him to know more about his work and talent. His works are branded as Daya Micro Arts.

“My father was also an artist,” started Dayananda. “Therefore, art has always been in my family and in my blood.”

Hailing from a family in Kandy, Haadeniya, Dayananda said that he studied arts at school, mostly ordinary drawing and painting. After school, as he got himself busy with his career art was not a priority in his life. Once again in 2010, he started to pick up art which he has not given attention to since he left school in 2003.

For about one year Dayananda had painted but once again had to keep the art aside due to his career.

A passion for micro arts since school days

At school, he has attempted to do miniature creations such as writing in extra small letters and making extra small short notes for fun. He used to write a one-page note in between two single rules in school days.

“During COVID-19, I was at home. I was involved in the tourism industry and due to the Easter Attacks and then COVID-19, most of the tourism-related industries and entrepreneurs faced difficulties. During this time, I thought of reviving my artwork once again.”

Dayananda said that he was thinking to do something unique and uncommon. Therefore, he did some research on various carving works such as coconut shell carving, and eggshell carvings. Then he noticed micro arts on pencils by foreign artists. He was inspired by many wonderful pencil carvings and tried his luck on this craft.

“I have been doing this now for almost four years now. I started with the basic tools I had and gradually purchased more and more tools for the craft. Now I have excelled in pencil carving,” said Dayananda with pride. “Leading senior foreign artists are also in touch with me.”

Engraving on rice grains

“These days I am engraving on rice grains,” Dayananda revealed.

What is interesting about Dayananda’s rice grain art is that he perhaps is the only artist in Sri Lanka to do rice carvings the way he does. Although this makes him a unique artist, it also means that there is no other artist in Sri Lanka with whom he can compare notes or share ideas. “However, world-class micro artists comment on my work,” Dayananda said.

He also spoke about various tools such as microscopes and other carving tools that he uses for his carvings and engravings. Some of these tools are extremely expensive and hard to afford. If Dayananda has more of these tools and equipment, he could well produce more exquisite work.

I have only requested opportunities from the authorities. In foreign countries, these artists are considered icons. In the world, these micro arts are admired.

Although in Sri Lanka, people have no value for this work, in the international, my work is admired.”

Although graphite or pencil micro art is not that unheard of in the global arena, rice grain carvings are a unique and rare form of micro art. Hence, Dayananda said he is investing a great amount of time and energy in rice grain engraving.

Talking about the market for these works, he said that it is hard to mark a high price for these works in Sri Lanka. This is actually an issue faced by many local artists. Due to many social and economic factors, the art market in Sri Lanka does not recognise the true value of artistic creations.

Venus 10B Micro Pencil Tip Scouting Salute Carving Art:FOUNDER’S DAY 2021 #Shorts - Part 02 Timelap 

Micro Pencil Tip Scouting Salute Carving Art:FOUNDER’S DAY 2021 #Shorts - Part 01 Timelap  

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Planning to exhibit his unique collection

“I have a collection of about 300 – 400 pencil carvings with me and hope to have my own gallery and museum one day,” Dayananda said, adding that he is confident that no one else in Sri Lanka has such a collection.

Dayananda also revealed his desire to do a solo exhibition one day, and said he is currently working on it. According to him, unlike organising an ordinary art exhibition, displaying, lighting, and viewing micro arts is not an easy task.

Among the international admirers of Dayananda’s work are micri artists Grahan Short and Dr. Willard Wigan. “They admire my work after seeing them on social media. Dr. Wigan is a micro engraver who works on needle eyes. These great artists are humble and down to earth.”

We wish Dayananda all the very best for his future endeavours and may he have the strength and opportunities to awe the world further.

සිව්වැනි බන්ධනාගාර මානවක බාලදක්ෂ කඳවුර - 2023

බන්ධනාගාරගත රැඳවියන් යහපත් පුරවැසියන් ලෙස සමාජගත කිරීමේ අරමුණින් බන්ධනාගාර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව විසින් සංවිධානය කරනු ලබන 04 වන නේවාසික මානවක බාලදක්ෂ කඳවුර 2023.04.01 වන දින සිට 2023.04.03 වන දින දක්වා රැඳවියන් 500 ගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් පල්ලේකැලේ එලිමහන් සිර කඳවුරේදී පැවැත්වීමට කටයුතු යොදා ඇත. එහි සමාරම්භක උත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරධිත අමුත්තා වශයෙන් අධිකරණ, බන්ධනාගාර කටයුතු හා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ අමාත්‍ය ජනාධිපති නීතීඥ ආචාර්ය විජේදාස රාජපක්ෂ මැතිතුමා සහභාගී වීමට නියමිතය.

එම කඳවුර සඳහා නිකුත්කරන ලද පදක්කම සහ කර ලේන්සුව නිළ වශයෙන් බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් තුෂාර උපුල්දෙණිය මහතා වෙත පිළිගැනීමේ අවස්ථාව 2023.03.29 වන දින බන්ධනාගාර මූලස්ථානයේ සිදු කරන ලදී.

මෙම අවස්ථාව සඳහා බන්ධනාගාර මූලස්ථාන අධිකාරී ගාමිණී බී දිනාසායක මහතා, සහකාර බන්ධනාගාර අධිකාරී ප්‍රසාද් ප්‍රේමතිලක මහතා, බන්ධනාගාර බාලදක්ෂ කටයුතු භාර නිලධාරී විශේෂ කොමසාරිස් ඊ.කේ.දිලුම් දුමින්ද මහතා ඇතුළු බන්ධනාගාර මානවක බාලදක්ෂ ආචාර්යවරු පිරිසක් මේ සදහා සහභාගී විය.

බන්ධනාගාර දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව හතරවන නේවාසික බාලදක්ෂ කඳවුරු සමාප්තිය සාර්ථකව සනිටුහන් කරයි….

බන්ධනාගාරගතවන රැඳවියන්ගේ පුනරුත්ථාපන ක්‍රියාවලියට මහත් රුකුලක් වන බන්ධනාගාර බාලදක්ෂ කටයුතු සදහා වසර සියයක් සපිරෙන මොහොතේ බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් තුෂාර උපුල්දෙණිය මහතාගේ උපදෙස් මත අතිරේක බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් චන්දන ඒකනායක මහතාගේ අධීක්ෂණය යටතේ බන්ධනාගාර දෙපාර්මේන්තුවේ පුනරුත්ථාපන අංශය විසින් සංවිධානය කරනු ලැබූ හතරවන නේවාසික මානවක බාලදක්ෂ කඳවුර 2023.04.01 සිට 2023.04.03 වන දින දක්වා පල්ලෙකැලේ එළිමහන් සිර කඳවුරු භූමියේදී පවත්වන ලදී. 

මෙම කඳවුර බන්ධනාගාරගත නේවාසිකයින් 400 ක් හා බාලදක්ෂ ආචාර්යවරු 100 කට අධික පිරිසකගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් සිදු කරන ලදී. කඳවුරු සමාරම්භක උත්සවයේ ප්‍රධාන ආරාධිත අමුත්තා ලෙස අධිකරණ, බන්ධනාගාර කටයුතු හා ආණ්ඩුක්‍රම ව්‍යවස්ථා ප්‍රතිසංස්කරණ ගරු අමාත්‍ය ජනාධිපති නීතිඥ (ආචාර්ය) විජයදාස රාජපක්ෂ මහතා හා ගරු අධිකරණ හා බන්ධනාගාර කටයුතු රාජ්‍ය අමාත්‍ය අධි නීතීඥ අනුරාධ ජයරත්න මහතා ද සහභාගී විය.

අධිකරණ හා බන්ධනාගාර කටයුතු අමාත්‍යංශයේ ‍ලේකම් වසන්තා පෙරේරා මහත්මිය, බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් තුෂාර උපුල්දෙණිය මහතා, අතිරේක බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් චන්දන ඒකනායක මහතා, බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් (මෙහෙයුම් හා බුද්ධි) ටී.අයි.උඩුවර මහතා, බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් (සැපයුම් හා සේවා,කර්මාන්ත) කේ.ඒ.එස්. කොඩිතුවක්කු මහතා, ශ්‍රී ලංකා බාලදක්ෂ සංගමයේ නියෝජ්‍ය ප්‍රධාන කොමසාරිස් එම්.එෆ්.එස් මූහීඩ් මහතා සහ මහනුවර දිස්ත්‍රික් බාලදක්ෂ කොමසාරිස් කපිල ප්‍රියන්ත මහතා ඇතුළු බන්ධනාගාර ජ්‍යෙෂ්ඨ නිලධාරීන් හා සම්භාවනීය අමුත්තන් රැසක් සහභාගී වූහ.

පුරා දින තුනක් පල්ලෙකැලේ එළිමහන් සිර කඳවුරේ මනරම් භූමි භාගයක පැවති මෙම කදවුරේ දී මානවක බාලදක්ෂයින් හට සංස්කෘතික සංදර්ශන, ගිණිමැල සංදර්ශන, බාලදක්ෂ ක්‍රියාකාරකම්, අධ්‍යන චාරිකා, ප්‍රජා සේවා ව්‍යාපෘති වැනි ක්‍රියාකාරකම් රැසකට සහභාගී වීමට අවස්ථාව උදා විය.

මෙම කදවුර සදහා ශ්‍රී ලංකාවේ සියළුම බන්ධනාගාරයන් නියෝජනය කරමින් බාලදක්ෂ මානවකයින් සම්බන්ධ වීම සුවිශේෂී කරුණක් විය. කඳවුරේ දී පැවති පරික්ෂණයන්ට සාරථකව මුහුන දී දක්ෂතම බාලදක්ෂ සමූහය ලෙස තල්දෙන තරුණ වරදකරුවන්නේ විශෝධන මධ්‍යස්ථාන කණ්ඩායම බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් ශූරතාවය දිනා ගන්නා ලදි. අතිරේක බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් අනුශූරතාවය බූස්ස බන්ධනාගාර රැදවියන් විසින් දිනා ගන්නා ලදි. මෙම කදවුරේ දී බන්ධනාගාර රැදවියන් තම කලා හැකියාව උපරිම ලෙස යොදාගනිමින් ඉදිරිපත් කල අංගයන් සෑම දෙනෙකුගේම ඇගයීමට ලක්විය.

මෙහි සමාප්තිය අතිරේක බන්ධනාගාර කොමසාරිස් ජනරාල් චන්දන ඒකනායක මහතාගේ සහභාගීත්වයෙන් පල්ලෙකැලේ එළිමහන් සිරකඳවුරේදී 2023.04.03 වන දින සාර්ථකව පැවැත්විය.