OTSC Sing-A-Long  

Another one of the ever popular OTSC Sing-a-longs, with the perennial favourite, Maestro Annesley Malewana, ably assisted this time, by old Thomian and versatile entertainer Sohan Weerasinghe, took off to a complete sell-out gathering of old boys, friends and guests, at the OTSC on Saturday 1^st August 2009.

The show organized for the fourth time, by my good friend, the OTSC livewire Social Secretary Tusita de Alwis, was a resounding success as usual.

Unlike this writers experience of other shows, whose starting times have tended to be quite tardy, this show started on the dot of 8 pm, with the new stand-in  MC Mr. Dulip Soysa, the Secretary of the OTSC, acting in the absence of the inimitable Brian Thomas (who was otherwise held-up due to his more urgent commitment to the ongoing cricket series at SLC),  welcoming the guests. Sohan took over the mike at this stage to extend a special welcome to the new Warden of S. Thomas' the Reverend John C Puddefoot, who had graced the occasion with his distinguished presence.

Sohan then invited the showman Annesley to the mike and  Annesley started off with one of his evergreen favourites, which provoked a massed round of applause from the enthusiastic crowd. Thereafter it continued in a seamless session of favourite after favourite, with Sohan the consummate entertainer, taking over from Annesley, and continuing with all the old favourite English songs such as 'You are my sunshine', 'Mary Anne' 'My Bonnie lies over the Ocean' & etc. which obviously went over extremely well with the crowd, judging from the full-throated participation of all the guests in the sing-a-long.    In a remarkable incident, Sohan, during his walk-about among the guests, encouraging the sing-along, unearthed a scintillating female vocalist, who identified herself as Sabrena, whose clear bell-like soprano, this writer thought, would have done credit to the selected coterie of Sri Lankas world famous singing stars.

As the sing-a-long was so popular, by unanimous consent, dancing commenced only after 11.30 pm, so that the vast enjoyment of the crowd would not be curtailed.

The show, which was publicized as 180 minutes of guaranteed non-stop entertainment, however ended, even then obviously to the disappointment of a few enthusiasts, at 15 minutes past midnight, well past the scheduled winding up time of 11 pm.

The catering, by the OTSC's own team of dedicated chefs, was on par as usual, with a few new innovations to the menu.

Good show, OTSC & Tusita !  Keep up the good work and wishing you more successes in the future.

John Appaswamy
No: 85A, Angulana Station Road,
Moratuwa.