Peter Wijesinghe was accommodated (rent free) on the 4th Floor of the Ceylon High Commission Building at 13 Hyde Park Gardens, London W2. As an additional responsibility he had to assist the caretaker Buluwela, fortnightly.
It took nearly eleven months to fill the High Commissioner’s vacancy in London, once Sir Oliver Goonatilake’s tour of duty came to an end in the UK. The new appointee was Sir Edwin Wijeratne whose period of service was from 1952 to 1954, during which Peter Wijesinghe was delegated as ‘The High Commissioner’s Personal Messenger’ for two reasons. Firstly, Sir Edwin being a ‘Kegalle man’himself had a soft corner for someone from Kegalle; secondly he was fond of Peter as he had proven to be an efficient and a humble employee.
Learning process
This made Peter Wijesinghe attend English Classes to learn the language properly at Workingmen’s College at Mornington Crescent in Camden, London NW1. A remarkable feature within the British education system is that it has continued over the years, with their far thinking concepts of making the society literate, by affording further education to all ages of citizens.
After the basic and secondary education in the UK, the normal stream of learning continues up to University graduate and postgraduate levels. Equally, there are other opportunities open to ‘drop-outs’ from the main stream, for the young as well as to adults, to continue the edification in a wide and varied manner, which can take in the form of ‘ day release courses’covering City & Guilds exams for those who work full time. In such cases, the employers become legally bound by law to allow their staff to attend such classes with full pay.
Evening classes cater for other types who are eager to continue with higher learning, but who are subjected to time constraints during office hours. Sandwich courses, in this scenario, help students (especially overseas students) to attend the minimum requirement of 15 hours per week full-time, to qualify as ‘bona-fide’ students according to the Home Office regulations, which most of the foreign students used to make use of, by working and studying simultaneously. The latest being special ‘English as a Secondary Language’ classes were introduced solely for the benefit of the foreigners, immigrants and refugees to the UK.
In the case of Peter Wijesinghe, once he had mastered reading the Bible, influenced by Rev. De Silva, he became an avid reader of many books and magazines thus expanded his general knowledge and became a versatile figure on many a topic.
German influence
After the World War II, when Adolf Hitler was defeated, a German gentleman by the name of Fredrick Richter migrated to England and was employed at the Ceylon High Commission in London as the Education and Technical Attaché. Seemingly the association between Fredrick Richter and Peter Wijesinghe developed into a bosom friendship. In such a backdrop, whenever there was a function at the Ceylon High Commission, Richter invited many German girls to such socials; during such an occasion Richter introduced a young German girl to Peter called Johanna Anthonia Worschech.
Johanna Worschech had arrived in the UK from Munich to work as “mothers help” initially, and was based at Worcester Park, Surrey. Later she gave up the ‘mothers help’job and enrolled as a student nurse at the St. Mary Abbott’s Hospital in Kensington, London West 8.
St. Mary Abbott’s Hospital happened to be a ‘hop step and a jump’ distance from Addison’s Road where used to Peter live at the time, as such, it became very convenient for him to visit the hospital whenever he needed any medical attention. Coincidently whenever Peter visited the hospital seeking medical treatment, it was Joanna who happened to be the nurse who had to attend to him all the time, which helped them to build up a platonic friendship.
With the passage of time, Peter invited Joanna to the Independence Day celebrations at the Ceylon High Commission. During that period the Independence Day celebrations were held either in Porchester Hall or Seymour Hall in London.
Seemingly the chemistry between the two developed over a period of 2-3 years, and in 1954 the two of them decided to take a trip to Venice on the well-known ‘Orient Express’ train to participate in the legendary Venice Biennale (“Venice Biennial”) which was a major art exhibition that took (takes) place once every two years (in odd years) in Italy.
Coincidently the Ceylon Ambassador in Rome at the time Mr. H.A.J. Hulugalle, with his involvement with the ’43 Group’in Sri Lanka, had managed to influence the organisers of the Venice Biennale to afford an opportunity for Sri Lankan paintings too, to be exhibited at the Venice Biennale. The contemporary art scene in Sri Lanka was the formation of the 43 Group in 1943, which was equivalent to the Salon des Independents.
Peter and Johanna had the occasion to visit the exhibition in Venice in the company of famous Ceylonese artistes at the time such as George Keats, George Claessen, Justin Deraniyagala, Ivan Peiris and Aubrey Collette. The young couple travelled from Victoria railway station, and had their first stopover in Munich to meet up with Johanna’s parents, Alfred Worschech and Emile Worschech, before proceeding to the exhibition.
Worschech Family
Alfred Worschech had been a soldier during the World War I, and the Worschech family originated from Sudetenland, part of Czechoslovakia, which was annexed by Hitler just prior to the World War II. When Czechs expelled the Germans from Sudetenland, the Worschech family, among other residents from there, managed to smuggle themselves out to East Germany. However, When Russians invaded part of Germany and Hitler lost the war, the Axis Powers (Americans, British, Russians and the French) ‘raped‘ Germany, and the country was divided into Westand East Germany. In such circumstances, the Worschech family had to abandon their assets, such as an apple yard, a mill and a bakery they owned when they smuggled themselves into East Germany. From there they moved to West Germany and settled down in Munich (Bavaria).
After young Peter’s meeting with the Worschech family at Munich in 1954 he managed to get their blessings and the consent to take the hand of their daughter in marriage. Subsequently, the young couple continued their journey to Venice and stayed at Hotel Danieli, the legendary five star luxury hotel close to St. Mark’s Square, before they proceeded to Venice Biennale exhibition.
Unique wedding reception
In 1958 Peter Wijesinghe married Johanna Anthonia Worschech and became the record holder to have a wedding reception ( up to this day) at the Board Room of the Sri Lanka High Commission at 13 Hyde Park Gardens in London, where 200 guests ( including the High Commission staff). Among the distinguished guests at the reception were the High Commissioner Gunasena de Soyza and wife, Deputy High Commissioner K. Kanakasundaram, Prof. J.C.L.Rodrigo, Mr. T.D. Perera etc., (the former Commissioner of Ceylon Currency).
After the marriage Peter and his young bride could not live at the High Commission office building, so they found a cozy flat in London SW1 at No. 3A, Carlisle Place, Victoria, which in fact, belonged to Mrs. Saunders, a noble friend of Sir Oliver Goonatillake.
In 1963, for the first time since he left Ceylon many years ago, he made his first trip back to his homeland with his newly wedded wife Hannah.
Later the couple had a daughter.
