SL High Commission donates Ceylon Tea to Royal Hospital Chelsea war veterans

By Sujeeva Nivunhella in London

The Sri Lanka High Commission in London donated a consignment of Ceylon Tea to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, a retirement facility cum nursing home for around 300 war veterans, last week.

On behalf of the Sri Lanka government, High Commissioner Saroja Sirisena and Deputy High Commissioner Samantha Pathirana presented the stock of tea to the British war veterans as a gesture of goodwill emblematic of Sri Lanka’s commitment to the longstanding bilateral relations with the UK.

The donation was received by the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, Gary Lashko, Professor Deborah Sturdy OBE, Major Philip Shannon and three Chelsea pensioners.

The Royal Hospital was founded by King Charles 11 in 1682. Veterans housed at the hospital served in Korea, the Falkland Islands, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and World War II.

Drinking tea is a long-established tradition in the British Army.

The Sri Lanka Tea Board and seven leading tea producers in Sri Lanka, Vintage Teas Ceylon Ltd., Tea Trends Export Ltd., (New English Teas), English Tea Shop, Dilmah Ceylon Tea, Mlesna Ceylon Ltd., Stassen International Pvt Ltd., and Akbar Brothers contributed towards this gesture.

Speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of the hospital, Gary Lashko, said: “We have been looking after British Army veterans since 1682. Sri Lanka and Britain have been closely associated since the early 1800’s and tea has always been an important part of that association”.

Lashko further said, “Tea drinking was a long-established tradition in the British Army, with reports that tea was liberally distributed among the men on the morning of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. When the UK government bought all the tea on the market in 1942, they made the tradition official. The tea the British government bought for the Army was strong black tea from Ceylon, Assam, and Africa.”

“As our Governor is from a tank regiment, he has told us that tea-break culture used to pose a big problem for the generals in charge of Britain’s armoured formations. Tank crewmen had to stop and climb out of their vehicle in order to have a brew, making it difficult to safely sustain an armoured advance. The answer was the British Army boiling vessel — a built-in kettle for armoured vehicles. The Centurion tank was fitted with a boiler vessel, or bivvie — a cube-shaped kettle powered by the tank’s electrics, and today is apparently fitted to all the Army’s main fighting vehicles.

“Happily, the veterans living here can enjoy the tea you have donated in less stressful situations, and it will provide a healthy way of enjoying each others’ company and the comradeship that means so much to everyone especially in these difficult times of the global pandemic. They say a trouble shared is trouble halved, and perhaps when done over a cup of tea will even be enjoyable and enhance our well-being.”

Army Veteran Denis Bate, who had worked on the Monarch Building Construction project in Sri Lanka, said that it was a great honour to meet the High Commissioner and her officials. He said that he missed the sand, sea and sun in Sri Lanka, which he enjoyed for over 11 years and had fun.

Minister (Commercial) Lakmini Mendis and Minister Counsellor (Defence) Swarna Bothota were also associated with the event.