New Forest District Council will mark Commonwealth Day 2014 on Monday 10 March by holding a short ceremony and raising the Commonwealth flag at Lymington Town Hall. The council joins 500 other local authorities, community groups and charities throughout the British Isles that will take part in Fly a Flag for the Commonwealth to mark Commonwealth Day.
A specially written Commonwealth Affirmation will be read out at 9.55am by the Chairman of the council, Councillor Christine Ford, before the Commonwealth flag is raised outside the town hall at 10am. The flag will also be raised simultaneously at the council’s Appletree Court offices in Lyndhurst. Members of the public are welcome to attend the ceremony at Lymington Town Hall.
Councillor Ford said: “We are proud to be joining in the largest single raising of the Commonwealth flag in Commonwealth history, in an expression of commitment to the Commonwealth, appreciation of the values it stands for and the opportunities offered to its citizens around the world.”
Commonwealth flags will be flown in the four capital cities of the United Kingdom, at Land’s End in Cornwall: the most westerly point in England; St. David’s in Pembrokeshire: the westernmost city in Wales; Carlisle in Cumbria: the northernmost city in England; Lowestoft in Suffolk: the easternmost town in England; and Unst in the Shetland Islands, the most northerly inhabited island in Scotland. Charity teams will be taking Commonwealth flags to the top of the UK’s four highest national peaks, Scafell Pike in England, Ben Nevis in Scotland, Mount Snowdon in Wales and Slieve Donard in Northern Ireland.
Details of events around the country can be found on an interactive map at www.esriuk.com/flyaflagmap
