UTE sponsors Melbourne Cup Ball 2011 to raise funds for National Cancer Institute

United Tractors and Equipment (Pvt) Ltd. (UTE) together with the Sri Lanka-Australia-New Zealand (SLANZA) friendship association sponsored the Melbourne Cup Ball 2011 recently to raise funds for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Maharagama.

The event took place at the Ceylon Continental Hotel with the participation of a large gathering of SLANZA members and well-wishers. The contributions of the event will be channelled to the NCI to upgrade its infrastructure, purchase treatment equipment and medicines and for its general upkeep.

The NCI is the largest hospital in Sri Lanka, which offers specialised treatment for all types of Cancer patients. It helps to identify Cancers in about 10,000 new patients, and does the follow up treatment for nearly 30,000 patients every year.

Apart from the annual Melbourne Cup Ball sponsorship, UTE is closely linked with the other social wealth generation programs initiated by SLAZNA as part of UTE’s social responsibility initiatives.

One such initiative was the construction of the Dialysis Unit in the Anuradhapura National Hospital to treat the large number of kidney patients found in the North-Central Province.   

Melbourne Cup Day is the most prominent equestrian festival in Australia and takes place annually during the first week of November.

This equestrian festival which commenced in 1861 has an unbridled history of 160 years and is held with high esteem in the Australian society as a festival that weaves the social fabric synchronising citizens from all walks of life, making it an event of national and cultural importance.

The Melbourne Cup Ball is annually organised by SLANZA to mark this event in Sri Lanka and to bring together expatriate and local communities taking forward the longstanding friendship enjoyed by these three countries. The ball held at Ceylon Continental Hotel featured Super Pink and Purple and Kismet. There were many fun events and games and a grand raffle draw that kept the participants excited throughout the event. The highlight of the event was the Wooden Horse Race that was conducted to commemorate the Melbourne Cup.