SLIIT-SHU Get Together 2015 - London

The annual get together of Sheffield Hallam University and Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology Sri Lankan society was held on 21st November 2015 at Grange City Hotel London. This event was originally formed to build up an Alumni of Sri Lankan students who were graduated from these universities and working in the UK. The key aim of having an alumni engagement is charged with generating school spirit by helping alumni grow personally and professionally under the university flag. The idea incubated in 2014 by Dr. Terrance Perara a lecturer from Sheffield Hallam University and one of the key member of the SLIIT – SHU affiliation. The inaugural event was held on 26th July 2014 in Sheffield and it was massive success. Due to the great demand the 2015 event was held at the city of London.

The Event kicked off with the welcome speech by Eranda Thennakoon one of the main organisers of the event followed by welcome drinks. The guest of hounour Mrs Sathya Wijekoon and Mr. Prasanna S. Haddela were warmly welcomed by the audience. Mrs. Sathya Wijekoon a former lecturer of Sri Lanka Institute of Information technology addressed the audience and walked through the memory lane of her time with the students in the university. Then Mr. Prasanna S. Haddela one of the well-known senior lecturer of SLIIT currently visiting the UK addressed the audience. They expressed their gratitude for the former students for forming this society and organising these social events annually. Furthermore they stated that this is a great initiative have a greater spirit among the Sri Lankans.

The event was full with mouth-watering Sri Lankan food, topped up with Sri Lankan Baila by Exceed DJ Ranil. The event was a massive success for the 2nd consecutive time and the attendance was enormous. The event was wrapped up by a thank you speech by the chief organiser Mr Praneeth Hettiarachchi by thanking main sponsor Glen Carriers and Shaheemullah Iqbal for their generous support towards the event, Mr. Nazoomi Azhar & Grange City Hotel staff for their excellent hospitality & service, Thushan Gunarathne/KandianPro, finally he shedded some lights on a bigger and better event next year while thanking all who attended to make this year event great success.

Article by Zafran Azmy
Photography by Praneeth Hettiarachchi, Zafran Azmy and Amila Udayanga.