Nearly 40 years after graduation, and having lost touch decades ago, the Alumni Office were thrilled to be able to reconnect two friends – showing that the connections made at Reading truly can last a lifetime.
Padmasiri Wanigasundera (Wanige) and Leighton both studied agriculture at Reading during which they became firm friends. Wanige studied agricultural extension and rural development in the 1980s, while Leighton Griffiths studied an MSc in agricultural extension, graduating in 1984.
After graduation, Leighton returned to his home in Wales and taught rural studies in schools in the county of Monmouthshire for around 10 years. Meanwhile Wanige returned to Sri Lanka in 1987 after completing his PhD, where he spent most of his career as a professor in agricultural extension and rural development at the University of Peradeniya.
The friends had lost touch over the past 40 years since graduating, but while on a trip to the UK to visit his daughter and her family, Wanige was inspired to try and reconnect with Leighton.
Wanige shared: “While I was in the UK my family and myself were due to visit Wales. This immediately made me think of Leighton, who was from South Wales, and during our time at Reading I had joined him for the winter of 1983/84 on his family farm. This had been a great visit and Leighton was a very close friend to me during our Reading days.
“Unfortunately, over the years we had lost contact and feeling nostalgic, I really wanted to reconnect with Leighton. So I decided to reach out to the University of Reading Alumni Office to see if they could help me – I was overjoyed when they were successful in reconnecting us.”
Armed with Leighton’s first name and graduation year, the Alumni Office were able to track Leighton down and he was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to reconnect with Wanige.
Leighton said: “I recall many a happy memory with Wanige and was pleased to hear from him via the Alumni Office, giving us the opportunity to correspond and reminisce together.”
Friends reunited
After being reconnected by email, Wanige and Leighton arranged to meet up.
Wanige said: “Thanks to the help of the Alumni Office I arranged to visit Leighton and spend two days with him and his family.
“My family accompanied me and they enjoyed meeting and spending time with Leighton and his wife, Catherine, as well. The best part was that they had already heard of me, as Leighton had shared memories of our time at Reading together with them over the years.
“We enjoyed reminiscing about my previous visit to his farm in 1983, and our time studying at Reading together. Leighton and Catherine were lovely hosts, showing us around Wales and cooking us tasty meals. My granddaughter loved meeting the sheep and chickens on his farm.”
Leighton said: “Wanige and I enjoyed reminiscing on shared memories over several cups of tea.”
Wanige added: “Now we are back in touch, our connection is only growing stronger. Leighton’s wife, Catherine, is even teaching German online to my grandson.”
If you are looking to reconnect with an old friend from the University, then please contact us directly at alumni@reading.ac.uk with your details so we can offer you our ‘Find a Friend’ service.
