The French Ambassador to Sri Lanka Michael Lummaux was the chief guest at the Annual General Meeting of the Alliance Francaise De Kandy held recently. The highlight of the meeting was the Decoration of Mrs. Kushantha Kariyapperuma by the French Ambassador in recognition of her services toward French Culture and Language. She was also a past President of Alliance Française De Kandy. Mrs. Vagdevi Fernando was elected president of the Alliance for the year 2007-08. The other office bearers are Vice Presidents Thilak Palliyaguruge and Professor Veranja Karunaratne; Treasurer Nihal Fonseka; Committee Members Marlon Ariyasinghe, Aldo Perera, Sanjeewa Hulangamuwa, Palitha Handunge, Lionel Pereira and Sumithra Ratnayake.

Matale's Lion Hemasiri is New Lions Governor

Lion Hemasiri de Silva of the Lions Club of Matale is the new District Governor of Lions International District 306C1. The Lions Clubs in the Kandy area come under District 306C1.
Lion Hemasiri who was a very successful president of the Matale Lions Club later held several senior positions in the District Cabinet. Last year he was elected uncontested to the post of Vice Governor. In the Lions community he is highly appreciated for his calm demeanor, friendly disposition and committed leadership.

Lion Hemasiri was an all-rounder in his school days at St. Thomas's College, Matale. On leaving school he joined Unilever and ended his career in the company as an Area Sales Manager. Having secured a degree in Baking Science & Technology from the UFM University in Bangkok, Thailand he now has his own business Ess Kaye Bakery Foods (Pvt) Ltd., which serves the bakery and hotel industry. He functions as Director/General Manager of the company.

Lion Hemasiri and his wife Lion Lady Vijitha have two sons.

Lions Clubs from Kandy Area Shine in Lionistic Services

At the Lions Clubs International District 306C1 annual convention held recently at the BMICH Colombo Lions Club of Dumbara led by its president Lion Raja Pushpakumara was recognized as one of the best clubs in the District for the services it had rendered to the community in the year 2006-07.The Club won 16 awards at the District convention. Dumbara is a member of Region 5 of the Lions District. Several other Lions Clubs from the Kandy area that also come under Region 5 won awards for completing valuable service projects.

Dumbara, which is not quite three years old and is one of the youngest Lions clubs in Sri Lanka was the runner up in the competition for the Best Club of the District. Lion Pushpakumara was the runner up in the competition to choose the best president. Lion Pushpakumara also won the prestigious “Lion of the Year” given to the member of the District in recognition of outstanding services to Lionism.

Service awards were also won by Ambathanna (uplifting of Daham Paasal), Mawanella (Diabetic Awareness), Matale, Kandy and Katugastota (Humanitarian Assistance), Peradeniya (Environment, Health and Education), and Senkadagala (Health). Dumbara was recognized as the best club of Region 5 followed by Senkadagala.

Several office bearers and Lions leaders from the Kandy area clubs won awards for their dedicated service to the Lions movement and outstanding leadership. Lion Shirley Jayawardena who was the Region 5 Chairperson was recognized as one of the most outstanding Region Chairpersons for the outstanding leadership that she provided to the clubs under her purview. Lion Jayampathy De Silva was named as one of the most outstanding Region Coordinators for his services to Region 5. The two zonal leaders of Region 5 Lion Chinthaka Wijesooriya and Lion M E M Farook were named as outstanding Zone Chairmen.
Lion Daya Weeraratne and Lion Dilini Gunasekera won awards as outstanding coordinators of district programs.

At the club level Lions Jayampathy de Silva (Katugastota) won the Best Secretary of the District award, A M W Amadekoon (Mawanella) Runner-up - Best Secretary, Jayantha Wickramanayake (Matale), Runner-up - Best Treasurer, and Arooze Saleemdeen (Senkadagala), Runner-up Best President of Region 5.

In the coming year 2007-08 the Lions Region 5 will have 3 Zones with 13 Lions clubs from the Kandy area. Lion Shirley Jayawardena (Lions Club of Senkadagala) will continue to lead the Region as its chairperson. The Zone Chairmen will be Lion Chinthaka Wijesooriya (Senkadagala) Lion Nandana Abeykoon (Katugastota) and Lion Raja Pushpakumara (Dumbara). The Region coordinator will be Lion Dudley Gunatilaka (Kandy).