Segaran Family News 2015

To family and friends all over - we hope you find this summary of events in our lives this year interesting.

Jane has been working very hard throughout the second half of 2014 on a project to acquire and run a holiday cottage in York. We were able to have Mayfield Cottage ready for launch by January 2015. This is Jane's main job now and certainly the popularity of the cottage has kept Jane busy. She has had guests from all over the world including Australia, Greece, France, USA and Germany. Here is a link to some photos.

Luke has been working for a software company in York as part of his Year in Industry. He has enjoyed this very much and home conforts was an added bonus. He is back at Sheffield for his final year. He had an interesting trip to Ukraine which included a tour of Chernobyl. We also had a short break with him in Krakow. Luke is still passionate about music and made it to Glastonbury this year.

Emily started her new job at the Youth Hostel Association this year where she is Activites Manager. She is having great fun and enjoys the interaction with school groups and outdoor activities. She is also very active with the Scouting organisation and frequently goes climbing - now as an instructor. Emily is still involved with fundraising for Oxfam and organised a fun Oxjam day this year.

Joseph continues to enjoy life in Amsterdam keeping busy between working at Watersones, doing art commissions and promoting his silk screen prints, postcards and greeting cards. Here is his website. I took Amma across to stay with him in April and we went on a tour of the bulbfields. He is a great cook and certainly impressed Amma with his efforts.

I continue to fill my time with electronics and books. On the electronics side the new products are aimed at home automation like monitoring freezer temperature and switching appliances on and off remotely. I helped two authors with publishing their books as 'print on demand' versions. One was "Evolution of an Ethnic Identity - The Tamils of Sri Lanka" and the other was "Endless Inequality - The Rights of Plantation Tamils in Sri Lanka". 

Jane and I felt able to visit Sri Lanka after the recent change in government. We were able to travel to all parts of the island freely and so we did by visiting Jaffna, Trincomallee, Battocaloa, Kathirgamam and Galle. While in Jaffna we visited Manipay Hindu College where my grandfather was once the Principal. It was good to see the money that the Navaratnam family fundraised for sports being put to good use. There seemed to be new optimism in all parts of the country.

Wishing everybody a peaceful 2016.