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My brother Sene and I became professional plantation managers – commonly known as simply: ‘Tea Planters’ – a career certainly not for the chicken-hearted – it was tough and above all warranted much fore-planning and meticulous implementation with an eye for detail. To get a giant work-force of 2500 to 3500 Read More
We’re heartbroken to report the death of Larry Schokman, longtime botanical garden director; veteran tea planter; award-winning horticulturist; author; and dear friend. Schokman, 82, died following a heart attack at his home, across the street from The Kampong, part of the National Tropical Botanic Garden, where he served as director for nearly 35 years. Read More
My first encounter with Tony Peries took place in 2003. By chance, I stumbled upon a meeting of the Ceylon Society in Melbourne one Sunday afternoon at which Tony was giving a talk about his book George Steuart& Co Ltd 1952 – 1973: A Personal Odyssey, published in 2003, a copy of which occupies a prominent position on my bookshelf. Read More
Mr. J D S Wickremesooriya, my Grand Father, was one of the pioneer Transport Agents in the Dimbula District. He had branches at Kotagala, Nawalapitiya and Talawakelle. My father Lionel and his elder brother Francis look over the business in the late 1930s, with my father Lionel, taking charge of Talawakelle Read More
In this paper of mine I shall strive to show the reader examples of ‘attention to detail’ and making one realize that the ‘Planter’ is a multi-talented, forward thinking leader with constant zeal! Let us never make him feel inadequate and/or insignificant in the macro-image of the ‘plantation industry’ where the new investors are constantly Read More
This Paper is in backdrop of a majority of RPCs balking at prospect of planning and sustaining a well coordinated Infilling and Re-Planting Program due to [faulty] perception that the ROI on Replanting does not warrant Re-planting! A simple logical response would be that if Re-planting [and indeed Infilling] is discontinued or done haphazardly Read More
He gave it the title ‘Ceylon Tea the Trade That Made a Nation’. Within its pages the comment ‘This may not be a scholarly literary work’ was perhaps an afterthought. Whatever Richard says about himself and his work, perspective content of the metamorphosis of the plantations and an irresistible enactment of the, as he says, ‘rough and tumble’ of that evolution is succinctly captured in its pages. Read More
Ceylon Tea is a must-read, must-absorb work of art. Its review of the history of tea in Sri Lanka is set in deep context – context historical, context political and context social. As such, it is a tour de force. Presented in simple yet arresting prose with a commendable economy of words, Ceylon Tea illuminates many aspects of life in British Ceylon as well as Sihalee and Sri Lanka past and present. Read More
