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:
“Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1948)
“This is perhaps a day of general honesty
Without example in the world’s history....”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)