The 86th Prize Giving was held at St. Peter's yesterday (20th February 2018) with a distinguished Old Boy, Mr. Ashantha Timothy Andradi as the Chief Guest.
After the welcome ceremony Mr. Andradi, his wife Kirtida and son Kirshan were conducted by Fr. Rector, accompanied by distinguished Old Boy invitees, to light the traditional oil lamp. Once the distinguished guests had taken their seats on the stage, Fr. Rector officially welcomed the Chief Guest and read the Prize Day Report in which he emphasised on excellence and action taken by St. Peter's in pursuit of excellence, while also highlighting special achievements of some of the students as well as achievements by College in studies, sports and other extra and co-curricular activities.
In his address, the Chief Guest recalled his own memories of his student days at St. Peter's and the importance of the Prize Day. While congratulating the prize winners he also made it a point to thank the teachers who he emphasised were contributing immensely towards the development of the students.
After the conclusion of the speeches the distribution of prizes took place and at the conclusion of the Prize Giving, the Chief Guest and all the special invitees were treated to refreshments at the Sr. Flora Hall.
Departing from tradition, a special feature of this year's Prize Day, was a grand dinner at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel for the Priests and senior staff of College hosted by the Chief Guest, Mr. Ashantha Andradi. In addition to the teachers, some of Mr. Andradi's classmates had also been invited for this event.
After a prayer by Fr. Chrispin Leo, Mr. Ashantha Andradi welcomed and re-emphasised the role played by teachers in moulding the character of students in addition to imparting knowledge and recalled his own student days and the guidance received back then from priests and teachers. He singled out Fr. Chris Abeyratne as an example of such priests who helped in no small measure to guide and correct many of the schoolmates in the days gone by. He concluded his speech by proposing a toast to the teachers.
This grand event next saw Fr. Rector thanking Mr. Andradi not only for the dinner he was hosting but also for the magnanimous gift of a library which he said was known to be the largest donation by an Old Boy to any school in Sri Lanka. He thereafter proposed a toast to the success of all of Mr. Andradi's affairs and presented a memento to him. Ms. Imogen Mel proposing the vote of thanks on behalf of the teaching staff thanked Mr. Andradi profusely for hosting such an event specially for the teachers, stressing that it had never happened prior to this and it was obvious she spoke from her heart.
The teachers and the guests had a great time at this well organised event with music provided by Rajitha and Misty with "Thattaya", Ronnie Lietch also joining in.
(Pending the receipt of any official photos, we publish the few amateurish photos that were taken with a telephone camera)
