Sapphire 2017 - An Astounding Success

The Hilton London Metropole was the 5-star venue for the annual Imperial College Sri Lankan Society 'Sapphire 2017'.

The thousands of guests enjoyed a fantastic evening of dinner and dance.

The delicious food was provided by Ruby's Catering, one of the best catering companies in the UK.

The evening kicked-off with a chilled drinks and canapes reception which was great for mingling and getting to meet old friends.

The five-star catered, unlimited Sri Lankan buffet carts rolled out, full of your favourite Sri Lankan dishes, including tender chicken curry, the classic dhal curry and of course kotthu. And they had not forgotten about dessert, creamy chocolate biscuit pudding or fresh fruit salad with homemade ice cream was there to cap off the feast.

To work off the calories there was a lively mix with pop's latest sensation, Umaria Sinhawansa, Kandy Lamissi's Mariazelle Goonetilleke and the baila legend that is Desmond de Silva who were all backed by the UK's no. 1 Lankan band, Exceed. As if this was not enough, DJ Razz hosted a wonderful after party.

The whole evening was organised by ICslsoc to raise money for amazing charities: TrailSL and Hela Sarana, who are doing great work back in Sri Lanka with helping children get the education they deserve, and providing better treatment to cancer patients. This year this was done via a successful online Crowdfunding campaign.

This year the joint Presidents, Navidu Samarakkodi and Devin Nanayakkara, formed the largest committee to date: with 7 in the EXCO and a staggering 12 committee members from social secretaries to heads of fundraising to heads of sponsorship, sales and marketing quite like the mammoth Sri Lankan Cabinets except these guys ACTUALLY did amazing work.

Sri Lankans can be proud that ICslsoc Sapphire was 100% student run and boasts the second largest event budget among 330 odd other clubs and societies in the Imperial College Union.

Finally Navidu, Devin and ICslsoc wanted to thank the people who made the event a huge success.

Main sponsors UKuni and Fresh Bounce, and specifically Helanka Rajapakse (the country manager for Sri Lanka) who was super cooperative.

Marcel Kraan, Derya Kurum and their amazing team at The Hilton, who worked with ICslsoc for over 6 months in preparing and delivering a fantastic venue, Mohan Vythilingham and his team at Ruby's Catering for the delicious food, Brindan Sivanandan and his team at ProSystemServices for the stellar lights and sounds, Smart Creations for doing a fantastic job with the decor, Praneeth Hettiarachchi for the photography, Newslanka and Sesatha, our media partners. Imperial College Union and specifically our Deputy President of Finance, Rachel Blythe. And finally the group would like to thank all the guests who made the evening a great success.