• School Song

• Welcome address by the President : Heshan De Silva

• Briefing on the Progress made during 2006-2007 terms.

• Presentation of the Annual Accounts (duly Audited & Certified by the Hon. Auditor -ORUAE) for ratification by the general membership.

• Dissolving of the Present Committee.

• Calling upon the Patron to conduct the election of the New President & other key posts in the Executive Committee for the term 2008.

• Establishing the entire Committee for the term 2008.

• Appointment / re-appointment of ORUAE Hon. Auditor.

• Vote of Thanks by the New President.

• National Anthem

• Closing up of the AGM.

• One Minute’s silence was observed in memory of the Great Old Royalist -the Late Mr. Vijitha Weerasinghe & the Late Mrs. Avanthi Sumanasekera (Who had helped ORUAE during the past few years).

• The Royal school song was played & sung by the Old Royalists.

Heshan in his briefing on the progress made during his tenure as the President for the Period 2006-2007; said that it was a very successful and an eventful period for the ORUAE.

A printed description of the events carried out under his tenure was made available to the members alongside the Agenda. He requested the members to check & seek clarifications if any.

Heshan also highlighted the immediate response made to a request made by RCU calling for financial contributions towards the fund set up for the late Sir Viji Weerasinghe, when RCU alerted all the old Boys associations spread around the world to raise funds for his medical needs. ORUAE within a space of few hours arranged for the transfer of SLRS 1 lakh to ‘Viji’s fund. The hierarchy of ORUAE committee was duly consulted before taking action despite the urgency of the matter and time constraints.

Heshan then invited ORUAE Treasurer Ijaz Haniffa to present Audited Annual accounts to the members.

Greeting all those who were present in the evening, Ijaz said that the ORUAE A/C looked very healthy and earnings over expenditure for this term are excellent considering the number of events which ORUAE conducted. Many events which were organized such as the Fun Bowling, Family night out trip, provision of Rugby Jerseys and the AGM were either on subsidized rates or free of charge.
Few handouts were given among the members present to go through the accounts which were audited as of 28Th February, 2008 by the ORUAE Hon. Auditor Lasantha Dantanarayana. He called for any clarifications and requested the members to propose & second a motion if they were pleased with the statistics & agree that the funds had been utilized satisfactorily.

With everyone in agreement with the finances; Patron Kassim Farook proposed that the annual financials are in order and member Reza Mustafa seconded it.

Heshan Thanked the out-going Treasurer Ijaz Haniffa for his commitment & high professionalism exhibited in the presentation of the Accounts coupled with monthly statements & other major project cost sheets prepared. He also extended his gratitude to The Hon. Auditor Lasantha Dantanarayana for his voluntary work in auditing the accounts.

Heshan thanked all who were present for their great support given to him during his tenure as the President of ORUAE; before leaving his chair.

He invited the Hon. Patron, Farook Kassim & immediate Past President Roshan Kariyawasam to take over the proceedings and commence with the election of the office bearers to the key Posts in the new committee for the term 2008.

Patron Farook Kassim acknowledged that he was very impressed of ORUAE’s continuance with its steady progress. Under the Presidency of Heshan who had done a commendable job, ORUAE successfully shifted to a higher echelon and all the members present should be proud to be an Old Royalist in the UAE! Farook also said that he had been eagerly following the progress of the ORUAE and would often discuss issues with Patron Rameez who unfortunately had to miss the occasion that day.
He thanked the outgoing committee for the wonderful arrangements made in staging The AGM & wished success for the new committee to take the mantle from thereon.

CALL UPON THE NOMINATIONS TO ELECT THE NEW PRESIDENT

Farook then briefed the house that the nomination paper was earlier circulated among the membership by the Secretary via the e-mail net work. A list of nominations was duly forwarded to the past secretary Deepal Rajaguru by the membership proposing the nominees. Patron Farook requested the house for other names - if any, to be proposed outside the prepared list.

Since there were no other proposals, IPP Roshan took up the election proceedings first for the post of President of ORUAE, as per the given list of nominations.

Proposed by President Heshan De Silva & Seconded by Deepal Rajaguru;
Ponniah Thayananthan was elected as the President of ORUAE uncontested.

Proposed by Deepal Rajaguru & seconded by Sumudu Gunaratne;
Madhava Chandrasekara was elected as the Vice President of ORUAE uncontested.

Proposed by Lasantha Dantanarayana & seconded by Roshan Kariyawasam;
Deepal Rajaguru was re-elected as the Secretary of ORUAE uncontested.

Proposed by Roshan Kariyawasam & seconded by Anura Kasthurisinghe;
Nasirul Ijaz Haniffa was re-elected as the Treasurer of ORUAE uncontested.

The newly elected President & the committee were given a warm applause by the participating members.

Vote of thanks by the new president

Addressing the membership, the newly elected President Ponniah Thayananthan thanked the patron Farook for his guidance & fellow old Royalists for affording him the honor of being the new President, thereby making the night a memorable one for him. He thanked all the past Presidents, and immediate past President Heshan for their excellent contributions made in bringing ORUAE to this level of growth & strength as of today.

Thaya reminded the gathering that ORUAE’s main objectives are two fold. One is to seek more active participation among the membership to benefit from the activities organized and the other to contribute to the betterment of our Alma Mater, duly emphasizing on the free education we received and showing us what was all about books & men.

Thaya in his speech further added that he would strive hard for the betterment of ORUAE under his stewardship while reiterating that without members’ contributions in various forms, ORUAE could not run a long mile, and that he expects the membership to keep the ROYAL FLAG FLYING HIGH IN THE UAE!

Thaya also mentioned that the annual voluntary subscription drive for year 2008 is now on.

The new President requested all of us to have a look at the bigger picture and stressed on the real purpose of us all being here since it is always good to be purpose driven in whatever we do. He also said that the organization has carved its niche as a very special group among the other old boys & social groups around the world.

He concluded his speech with the vote of thanks. He thanked the organizing committee of AGM comprising Shanaka, Anura & Deepal and acknowledged the excellent service provided by the hotel staff. He also thanked DJ Kaushalya for providing music for the night.

The AGM was adjourned at 2330 hrs after singing of the national Anthems of both UAE & Sri Lanka. Thaya then invited the gathering to enjoy the sumptuous complimentary buffet dinner to the accompaniment of music.

‘DISCE AUT DISCEDE’

Special Thanks To;