SLAAPS Members’ Day on the 11th of December 2005

As usual we met up at the Bambalapitiya Flats. There were two huge, air-conditioned luxury buses waiting to take all 68 of us to the Club Palm Gardens Hotel in Beruwela. For once (?) I was early and even had time to do a leisurely walk to Chariot and grab a snack and a nice hot cup of coffee before going back to the flats. What a nice time we had greeting all our old friends, most of whom we see just once or twice a year at events like these. There was ample space in the buses for everyone and once on our way, breakfast was served. An ample breakfast too I might add, a couple of sandwiches, a roll and a pattie. There wasn’t the usual inelegant rush for seconds… the one serving kept everyone happy.

Soon we were at the hotel, everyone in a flurry registering and collecting their entrance gifts. Entrance gifts were handy pen-knives – the project chairperson Hyacinth’s idea. There were also little handbag sized bottles of ponds moisturizer, some sachets of dove shampoo and latte tea.

The member of the year was selected and a well deserving Iyne Gunawardena was selected. She got a heap of gifts and a huge electric oven from the Association. There were flowers, wine, clothes, shoes, a silver dish and lots of other things. She got quite a good haul of goodies!

The game Fly to your destination (four corners – a game originally introduced to SLAPS by our fun loving Rajini and which has taken on many faces since then). The game is simple, effective for getting everyone on the floor, and also lets everyone dance and enjoy the music. Four destinations, London, Paris, New York and Sydney were placed in four corners around the dance floor and when the music stopped, everyone had to fly to one of the destinations. The destination picked out of a hat, is out of the game until finally, just one person remains. In fact everyone enjoys the music so much that they would dance on the fringes of the floor and when the music stops, would fly away from all the destinations!

Then one of Margi’s innovative ideas – insert the mouse! Practically everyone wanted to give it a try. Luckily Naomi was wearing a beautiful scarf around her neck which we borrowed as a blindfold. There was a picture of secretary at her computer with her hand poised over the table. The idea was to pinpoint the location or ‘insert the mouse’ into the appropriate place. Gosh what fun we had with the mouse running all over the place, on the wall, under the table, under the table on top of the monitor, over the keyboard, under her skirt (gulp!) on various parts of her face and anatomy.

We were given some free time to browse through the stalls or use the pool – though I must say no one made use of the pool, perhaps because the sun was blazingly hot. Most people seemed to prefer sitting in the air-conditioned lounge chatting and catching up with old friends, or indulging in shopping.

Gammani Mendis as always provided excellent music and soon had everyone on the floor. He always seems to gauge the mood of the crowd and during a slow time I even saw a couple of girls slow-dancing!

Lunch was then served and a very good one it was too. There was a really good spread of delicious food and desserts. Marie as usual hunted a few of the choice cherries to share with me :)

After lunch was the ever popular talent contest. There were people singing songs, Claudette danced her famous oriental dance and won the first prize for it. There were skits, songs, Hyacinth modeling an outfits from one of the stalls, Damayanthi making her debut in acting out a drunk, Sharon doing a make-up demo and best of all (in my opinion) something way out of the ordinary… a magic show!! Elrea dressed up and did some great magic tricks though unfortunately he had to cut it a bit short, cos time seemed to be flying on swift wings.

The mix and match game another perennial favourite, started by Margi had absolutely every single member participating calling out trying to find the other three people who would complete her picture and win the prize for four. This game is always a sure winner… everyone has such a marvelous time!

Finally came the baila competition where six people were picked. The judges had done a great job, cos the winners were all excellent! The baila music of course had almost everyone on the floor, the beat is so irresistible.

Margi as always wanted as many people as possible to carry some little gift home with them, so all the extra items left over from throughout the years’ projects had been packed up and placed in a box. Numbers according to registration were drawn from a box and the person drawn had the chance to pick one of the gifts. There were nearly 30 such gifts. I had coveted a necklace which I managed to draw… along with enough good natured ribbing for my enthusiasm in getting it!!

Then it was cake and tea and bye bye or rather the vote of thanks followed by the National Anthem.

We were back in Colombo by 7.00 p.m. ending another lovely Members’ Day outing.

Well done SLAAPS!