Sydney Peterites celebrate Golden Gleam in grand style – By Lawrence Machado

There was plenty of wonderful entertainment, fun, laughter, music, with old friendships renewed and new friendships forged as St Peter’s College OBU NSW hosted their Golden Gleam 2024 at the Hornsby RSL on Saturday, 5 October ‘24.

The grand hall – the Showroom of Hornsby RSL – was decked beautifully with the college’s famous Blue, White and Gold colours and Golden Gleam theme highlighted as a wide array of canapes and drinks kicked off the evening in style.

With Sydney’s favourite dance band, Kamis setting the tone for the evening, the Peterites, their partners and friends were quick to show off their moves on the spacious floor after a warm welcome by Peterite OBU president Roshara Alles.

Dynamic MC Senani Gunasekera does what he knows best: making everyone comfortable, relaxed and in the mood for a fab evening. His masterly handling of the auctions and raffle draw made fundraising a cheerful and generous event because the money goes to the Scholarship Funds handled by the Peterite NSW OBU.

Under this pioneering scholarship scheme which began several years ago, needy students get the necessary financial support to continue their studies, with quite a few going on to become successful professionals including doctors and engineers.

In addition to the auction, there were several lavish raffle prizes, including two return air tickets to Sri Lanka from Sri Lankan Airlines, plus accommodation from Ramada Hotel, Colombo and Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort.

Typically, when the college mates mingle and find kindred spirits, invariably the talk turns to “which year did you leave or which class you were from?”. 

I personally found a few college mates whom I hadn’t seen since I left college many, many moons ago, including my rugby team-mate Dave Ranasinghe. Dave shuttles between Sri Lanka and Australia and said he really enjoyed his first Peterite dance in Sydney, saying it was something different. I also caught up mates from other schools while my neighbour from Sri Lanka, Suresh, also popped up, making it a really memorable evening.

There was plenty of “Hi Machan, where the hell have you been?” or “How are you doing, What are you up to these days?”,  “Great to see you, mate, you should come more often for our college functions” or “So, when did you leave college? No kidding, you must be a podian compared to us!” 

Peterite college dances in Sydney are known for their warm camaraderie even if you attended another school, because the Dance Committee and Peterite family make sure everyone has a wonderful time.

 Kamis, with some new faces, belted out plenty of traditional and contemporary favourites to keep the toes a-tapping and couples on the floor. 

 The evergreen Conrad de Silva rocked the dance in his own inimitable style as a guest artist, taking us back to the halcyon years of the Coconut Grove in Colombo with The Jetliners. The oldest The Voice contestant hasn’t lost his knack of interacting with guests who were treated to a maestro performance.

No Peterite dance is complete with the college anthem being sung. And true to form, the old boys, led by famous alumni Conrad, sang their anthem with gusto to the cheers of the crowd.

Congratulations to the Dance Committee, led by Roderick de Sylva, for an excellent and memorable dinner dance.

The whole event was classy, very well organised and went off smoothly with great music, a superb Western and Eastern buffet and beverages making it a very enjoyable night for everyone. DJ Meshara had the crowd on the dance floor with a good mix of baila and other musical genres when Kamis took their breaks, while  G&B  Productions did an excellent job with the lighting and sounds. Thanks also to  the Hornsby RSL staff who made sure everyone was well looked after throughout the evening.

The St Peter’s College OBU NSW are grateful for to their many generous sponsors including Sri Lankan Airlines, Ramada Hotel, Colombo, Grand Udawalawe Safari Resort, RHJ International Australia and Dubai, Blessington Singer Company, DP Marine, AP Accounting, BE Recruitment, BPO Team, Physio by Mandy, Oporto (Surry Hills), Jet Travel & Cruise, Dilmah, NADZ Kitchen plus several other benefactors, some of whom wished to remain anonymous.

View all Photos of the event on eLanka Facebook page – Click here