A great chance to thank and honour so many of our special citizens
Tonight, as we remember the 110 years during which the has dropped faithfully on our doorstep, let your minds flicker through the pages of history; two world wars, the growth of a great trading city, the last of the sailing ships which sailed away never to return, the tunnel joining Kowloon to Hong Kong, the underground railways, the ebb and flow of people - their numbers always growing, the mounting problems, the answers slow to come!
The spirit of Hong Kong is not something which floats in the air. Who are these people whom we thank tonight for their contribution? Who stand out in their different ways, representing the spirit of Hong Kong?
We cannot honour them all. The construction workers high above the streets building the city, our bamboo scaffolders, tram drivers who have trundled safely through our streets giving a lifetime of service; the ferries, the buses, the hospitals and their overworked careful, nurses and doctors.
Oh so many people to thank and honour!
Many of those you have chosen have struggled against the difficulties of limbs lost, a blind student, lip reading the dotted pages of learning, those who have put roofs over the heads of children in the remoteness of China's vastness. Children without mothers. Single mothers with children to care for.
These we cherish, honour and award, and our hearts go out to the seven and a half million citizens of this great place which is our home, and especially we thank the for giving us this opportunity to present these chosen awards for what they have done …
