St Nicholas Charity Foundation Marks Special Day In Tema

The management, pupils and staff of St Nicholas Preparatory School, Tema New Town welcomed distinguished visitors, guests, parents and guardians to attend their annual St Nicholas Day celebrations on Sunday, December 4, 2016 at the school’s wonderful premises located in Bankuman where the children and staff entertained a large and very appreciative audience to a morning of culture, music and dance.

The day began with a Service of Thanksgiving in the magnificent Greek Orthodox Church, built in the grounds of the school and which provides a beacon to mariners as they enter Tema. The service was led by Rev Father Irenios Opoku with appropriate prayers and hymns. Distinguished guests were then invited to sit under canopies to enjoy the spectacle under the flags of Ghana, Greece and the UK.

St Nicholas School was pleased to welcome many distinguished visitors, including Rev Yankey representing the Sailors’ Society, Charles Narh Teye who represented Ghana in the Para Olympic Games in London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (2016) in the 80kg Powerlifting class and Ivan Quashigah of Farmhouse Productions who provided all video, photography and sound equipment for the event. Mr Quashigah also invited the cast of YOLO who later that evening won 8 awards at the prestigious Ghana Movie Awards 2016.

The programme began with the children singing the St Nicholas School anthem, followed by poetry recitals in Ga, Ewe, English and French. The audience was then entertained with a cultural display which showcased the extraordinary dancing abilities of the children, all wearing traditional Ghanaian costumes. The audience fully appreciated the cultural significance of the performance.

The audience then enjoyed songs from the nursery classes and watched the splendid parade and march past by the school’s Cadet Corps, all dressed in naval uniform and with instruments kindly donated by Aiglon College, Switzerland. The band played and the cadets marched, both with remarkable skill and discipline. The National Anthems of Ghana, Greece and the UK were then sung by all who attended. The inspection of the cadets was then undertaken by the Paramount Chief of Tema, accompanied by Mr Enoch Adu, and by our visitor from British Airways, Captain James McNeillie who had flown a 747 to Accra the previous evening, but still honoured us by attending. Mr Patrick McLachlan represented the trustees of St Nicholas.

Prizes were awarded by Madam Deborah Eleazar to those pupils who had distinguished themselves during the past year at St Nicholas. Speeches were made by Innocent Fiagadzi (pupil) and Mrs Rita Damani (Tema East Sub-Metro Director of Education), who remarked that education was the best legacy that any nation could give its citizens and thanked the school authorities for their efforts made on behalf of the pupils.

Further choreography and songs were very much appreciated by the audience, and a most enjoyable occasion was closed by Madam Deborah Eleazar, who took the opportunity to thank her fellow trustee, Captain Alkiviadis Kappas for his constant efforts on behalf of St Nicholas, which are fully appreciated by all pupils, staff and management of the school. Visitors were then able to visit the new IT facilities and library, kindly donated by the Maria Tsakos Foundation, The Soutos Group of Companies, TCM (Tsakos Colombia Shipmanagement) and Haris Broumidis (the previous CEO of Vodafone, Ghana).