The final event of the school year is the Speech Day, which was traditionally held on the Saturday following the final day of the Summer Term. Traditionally, in the morning there was a church service in the Priory Church of St Bees, followed by luncheon in a marquee. In the afternoon the Prize-giving took place, with the prizes distributed by a notable figure from public life. Of note, prizes have been given by the politician the Lord Lloyd, Oliver Stanley, noted mountaineer, Sir Chris Bonington and Lord Jones, former Director-General of the Confederation of British Industry, and Lord Inglewood.
Recently, in order to accommodate the pupils from the Far East who had to leave before the end of term in order to fly home, Speech Day was moved from the end of the Summer Term to the middle of the term, therefore allowing many more of the pupils the chance to experience the event. The structure of the day was also changed, moving the prize-giving ceremony to 11am ( directly following the priory service), and having lunch after this. This allowed the day to finish sooner, and those that did not want to have lunch could leave after the prize-giving ceremony.
Read more about this topic: St. Bees School
Famous quotes containing the words speech and/or day:
“If the oarsmen of a fast-moving ship suddenly cease to row, the suspension of the driving force of the oars doesn’t prevent the vessel from continuing to move on its course. And with a speech it is much the same. After he has finished reciting the document, the speaker will still be able to maintain the same tone without a break, borrowing its momentum and impulse from the passage he has just read out.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C)
“Shakespeare carries us to such a lofty strain of intelligent activity, as to suggest a wealth which beggars his own; and we then feel that the splendid works which he has created, and which in other hours we extol as a sort of self-existent poetry, take no stronger hold of real nature than the shadow of a passing traveller on the rock. The inspiration which uttered itself in Hamlet and Lear could utter things as good from day to day, for ever.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)