Sydney Peterites do it in style and with finesse! – By Aubrey Joachim
Photos thanks to RoyGrafix
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The Old Peterites in New South Wales joined colleagues around the globe who have been, and will be, celebrating the centenary of their alma mater throughout this year when they put on The SPC Centenary Winter Ball at the Pioneer Room of the Castle Grand on Saturday 27th August. And, what an event it was!
The party will long be remembered as the best dance that Sydney has seen. The planners had gone through meticulous detail to ensure that the guest experience was unique from beginning to end. Guests stepped out of the elevator to have their pictures taken in front of the centenary façade and then walked into the exquisitely and tastefully adorned ballroom. The blue white and gold vertical wall lighting created an aura of magic. The table layout was out of this world. Each circular table was awash with the colours of the Peterite flag. The chairs and tables were dressed in the college colours and the table centre pieces also left one awestruck with a golden ‘100’ placed prominently. Completing the table setting were the colourful souvenir and a memento – a whiskey tumbler etched with the college emblem and the centenary logo.
The proceedings began with an opening video of the Centenary song compiled by a Colombo based Old Peterite Neomal de Alwis and performed by the famed Peterite Chorale setting the tone for the evening. Spot on cue at 6.30 p.m. Kamis – Sydney’s best dance band – were on stage for their first of four sessions which would see a total of 3 hours of scintillating and toe tapping music throughout the night.
Food and drink were aplenty with Flavour of Ceylon serving up what some guests described as ‘the best meal they have had’ at a Sri Lankan event. Four star rated wines and black label scotch tickled the palettes. There was no scramble at the buffet tables with the feeding time open for over an hour while Kamis continued to dish out their fare. The dinner-break also saw the very tastefully compiled dual video presentation tracing the history of St. Peters and also showcasing the modern-day facility that the college has turned into. Adding to the mix of food, drink and good music was the evening’s floorshow – the Barzilian Samba performed by three beautiful feathered belles who juggled their tops and bottoms much to the enjoyment of the audience. They even inter-mingled with the crowd and got the guests dancing along with them.
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A hallowed moment at every Old School function is the singing of the school anthem and forty plus Old Petes school tie and all stood at the front of the stage and belted out a soul-stirring rendition of the school song to the accompaniment of a big band sound track and the college flag in the background.
An auction of cricket memorabilia added to the fun of the night and the raffle was a popular attraction with excellent prizes on offer. A Muralitharan autographed piece donated by Harry Solomons of Kingsgrove fame was the centre of attraction. Two return air tickets to Colombo donated by the national career Sri Lankan Airlines as well as hotel stays in Colombo kindly donated by Cinnamon Hotels and Jetwing Hotels were the two top raffle prizes.
Of course no Sri Lankan event is complete without the traditional baila and this night was no different with an exciting baila segment provided by Neil Jayasekera of eLanka. The playlist even included tracks from prominent Old Peterites the late Desmond de Silva and Sunil Perera of Gypsies fame.
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The entire evenings proceedings from beginning to end was meticulously choreographed, flowing seamlessly, with no breaks and most importantly perfectly timed. As one guest observed even the Brazilian Samba programmed for 8.25 p.m. commenced sharp on time! Kamis’ last segment closed off sharp on 11 p.m.
Leaving comments from every guest – who stayed for the entire duration – were extremely positive and complimentary. The Sydney Old Peterites have always been reputed for putting on some of the best events in Sydney and The SPC Centenary Winter Ball certainly lived up to this reputation – and even exceeded. As Frankie Valli so aptly says in song – ‘Oh What a Night’.
The following link gives a glimpse into the evening.
