HARTLEY COLLEGE PAST PUPILS’ ASSOCIATION (UNITED KINGDOM)

Hartley College Past Pupils’ Association was established in 1983 in the United Kingdom. Our association is the first ever branch outside Sri Lanka for our Alma Mater. At present there are over fifty Past Pupils’ Associations functioning in the United Kingdom and Hartley PPA was one of the first such associations to be established in this country. The purpose of our association is threefold.

• To raise funds to help our school to provide better education, sports and other extra curricular activities

• Foster fellowship among old Hartleyites living in United Kingdom. 

• Give opportunities to the second generation Hartleyites to network among themselves and also with wider Community living in the United Kingdom by participating in sports activities organised   by organisations such as Tamil School Sports Association (TSSA) and other Past Pupils Associations.

Hartley College Pupils Association Parent body while functioning in Point Pedro also has two other branches in Colombo and Vavuniya in Sri Lanka. Also the association has four overseas branches namely Canada & USA, Victoria (Australia) and New South Wales (Australia) besides our branch in the United Kingdom. Since the association has seven branches, Global Trust incorporating all the branches was formed in 2002 to coordinate the funding and to avoid duplication and to deliver the development work efficiently.

In order to achieve our objectives our association organise various events and activities. In spring we organise a Cultural Event, which is the main fund raising event of the association. Last year the association raised more than £7000 through this event and all the funds will be spent to fund the building work in Hartley College. Due to the success of the last year event the current committee has decided to organise a bigger and better event at a 2000 capacity Fairfield Hall in Croydon on the 24th April. We are expecting a net surplus of £15,000 to £25000 from this event which again will be used to provide better facilities to the school.

During the summer, we organise Gala Day which gives an opportunity to the children of Hartleyites to take part in the Sports activities and Competitions. Also During the summer we have annual Cricket encounter with Jaffna Hindu OBA team. Besides this we participate in the Cricket and Football tournaments organised by TSSA. In late autumn, we have our Annual General meeting and dinner in November.

The executive committee invite all Hartleyites living in the United Kingdom to join the association and take part in the activities of the association and thereby make a contribution towards the development of our people who have undergone severe difficulties in the past few decades. We also believe that education is the most important factor that could help to emancipate so many of our people who live below the poverty line and give them a better future. The Hartleyites living here benefitted hugely from the education received in Hartley and it is our historical task to pay back in small way to current and future generations living and studying in those areas.