A few notable dignitaries were present at this event. At the head table were The Board of Governors of the College, his Lordship Bishop Duleep Chikera, The Warden, The Sub Warden, and the Chief Guest for the evening Prof. Dayasiri Fernando, a reputed old boy of the College. Also present were the principals of Ladies College Royal College and Methodist College.

The chaplain began the evening’s proceedings with a word of prayer specially mentioning the roots of College, Bishop James Chapman to whom we all owe our existence.

In the Warden’s address to the gathering, firstly he spoke on the year gone by with all its achievements and then went on to thank the entire Thomian family for its never ending dedication.

The following words are an excerpt from his speech in which he summarized the needs of our time in the field of education.

“To summarize, teachers or educators must become expert in the dynamics of change, become skilled change agents, and this will result in producing students with greater capacity to cope with change. These educators must be within a system capable of learning, i.e. a learning organization, and be expert at dealing with change as a normal part of its work.”

He did not forget to make mention of the present scenario in the country, one which was being slowly but steadily drowned in the vortex of war and terror, and spoke of the efforts of Thomians young and old who in their own way and to the maximum of their capacity tried to combat this threat, either by prayer or by action. Here is an excerpt of his speech in which he highlights of the need for peace in the country.

“Many of the challenges we faced in recent years are still with us and they are being faced with fortitude. Peace in the Nation has been at the forefront of our Prayers and Hopes and we follow the progress that is being made. Peace is still elusive but we live in expectation and eagerly look forward to a satisfactory resolution of the crisis. We notice a number of Thomians involved in various aspects of these endeavours and it must be said that Thomians are uniquely equipped to be a part of the reconciliation process. The College is one of a handful of schools that are truly pluralistic in its make up. We have always, right through the history of the school, had Sinhalese and Tamils working and playing alongside each without problem. What a joy it is for us when we see this total integration as for example Sinhalese boys assisting at the Tamil Literary Day, or vice versa. This integration is simply not anecdotal but found to be true in some difficult locations such as Northern Ireland. Secular schools, i.e. non denominational, were found to be more effective in bridging the sectarian divide between the Catholics and Protestants students, than segregated schools. We look forward to better time”

Among other things the Warden made mention of the refurbishment of the college buildings undertaken nearly five years ago and went on to say that nearly 70% of what was intended had been accomplished. And he ended his speech by thanking the entire Thomian family for their untiring efforts and contributions towards the betterment of college.

Then it was the speech from the renowned chief guest Prof. Dayasiri Fernando. A true Thomian who has been at the forefront of medical surgery worldwide and who also happens to be the former Dean of the Faculty of Medical Sciences at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.

The speaker mentioned accounts of his experiences and lessons he had learnt in life to share a bit of his immense wealth of experience and knowledge with the audience and reminisced a lot about his school career where he had learnt the most valuable lessons in life.

He spoke especially on one personality namely Warden R.S de Saram who was the Warden at the time and the example he set to others regardless of society trends. He referred to an incident where a Sinhala mob set fire to a Tamil man and how Warden de Saram rushed out and smothered the fire with his bare hands and thereafter sent the injured man to the sickroom from where he was sent to the hospital. He emphasized the braveness of the act in a scenario of mob violence. Through this the professor had learnt the valuable lesson that when it comes to the life of a human being nothing else matters.

As the house captain of Wood house the Professor at one time was very disappointed with being placed as the last house and he had high hopes of reforming things in the house to bring about an improvement  in the. His house master told him to turn the searchlight inwards  to first see what’s wrong inside, well this lesson lead him to change his own leadership and even today he uses this rule as a guideline to always correct himself first. This too is another golden characteristic very rarely found in mortals, to accept that there is wrong to be undone in themselves.

In a time where many educated scholars leave the country for greener pastures Prof. Fernando emphasized that we are bound to this country and it is our duty to serve it times of need. He stated how he declined a job at London in the Royal College of Surgery to come back to Sri Lanka proving he is also a man of action and not only words.

It was a very inspiring speech by the great Thomian who played a major-role in reviving the great culture of Thomian thespianism at a time when it halted.

After the very interesting speech, the Chief Guest distributed the prizes.

A few noteworthy prizes awarded at the Prize giving are as follows.

The Admiral H.A Silva VSV challenge Trophy for the best all round student in Academics and sport

C.B Wickramaratne

The Warden S.J. Anandanayagam Memorial prize for the best all-round sportsman P.G.C.S.P Pussegolla

The Saravanamuttu Prize W.A Wijesinha

The Victoria Gold Medal for best all-round Student A.D.  De Silva

In his vote of thanks the Sub Warden had a special word of appreciation for the headmaster administration Mr. J.G. Arulanantham who has been the driving force behind the organizing of the prize giving for the last 23 years and would be retiring shortly.

The Head Prefect’s Vote of Thanks, in which he skilfully convinced the Warden for the need of an extra holiday for the staff to de-stress, met with loud and hearty cheers from everybody present.

The Prize giving ended with singing of the National Anthem and College song accompanied by the College Orchestra.