The Sydney Hilton has been the venue of many gala events in its long history in the Harbour City. On Saturday, one more event went into the record books as being of the finest caliber. The annual Winter Ball of the Sri Lanka Association saw a glittering array of guests stroll into the hotel and make their way to the grand ballroom.

Over 330 guests and invitees were at this formal event. The Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia, His Excellent, Balapatabendi was the chief guest and made a refreshing speech to felicitate the organisers of this extraordinarily successful event. Aubrey, an excellent speaker, spoke to thank the guests and the committee who made this event possible.

The Masters of Ceremony who did an outstanding job were Anshu Jayaweera and Dale Joachim.

Malaysian Airlines was again one of the bigger sponsors of the Winter Ball and very generously gave two return tickets to Colombo to be auctioned at the dance. The two tickets went for a total of $2,600. Two other air tickets from Singapore to London were provided by SriLankan Airlines and these were won in the popular raffle.

Replay Six from Melbourne, one of the outstanding bands today, played popular dance music from the golden era of the 70's and 80's and the guests simply could not get enough of the music. The only complaint we heard was the floor was just not enough for the number of people wanting to dance.

Hilton Chefs set about giving the guest a meal to remember. A full three course meal was served at the table in a quiet and efficient manner. The veritable army of waiting staff went about their business in a professional and dilligent manner, truly the standard that Conrad himself set for his Hilton chain.

During this dinner break, the Indian four person group gave a 21 minute performance of the Bangara dance. Much appreciated by the guests they left to a thundering applause.

The committee and several support members worked very hard to make this event the gala event it was. Without mentioning names, we felicitate them and thank them for their efforts.

Click here to view a comprehensive album from the dance, thanks to Kitshiri Karunaratne