Plymouth will join with other cities around the world on virtual platforms to celebrate Commonwealth Day 2021.
Commonwealth Day is a shared celebration of this amazing family of nations that encompasses the globe. This year’s theme for all the Commonwealth nations continues that of ‘Delivering a Common Future’.
In previous year’s Plymouth residents would usually gather to raise the Commonwealth Flag, but this year due to ongoing restrictions caused by the COVID pandemic, The Lord Mayor is inviting residents and their wider families and communities to watch his Commonwealth Day broadcast on Monday 8 March which will be available from 10am on the Council’s YouTube Channel.
The Lord Mayor, Councillor Chris Mavin said: “I do hope as many people as possible are able to join me in reaffirming their personal commitment to the Commonwealth, its citizens of all ages from here and around the world by working together in practical ways in our local communities and by interacting and cooperating across national boundaries in our continuation to play a part in addressing the global challenges faced worldwide.”
The Commonwealth as we know it today, is a political association of 54 independent and equal member countries, a majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The British Commonwealth of Nations was drawn up by the Balfour Declaration in 1926 and formalised by the Statute of Westminster in 1931. In 1949 and following the London Declaration resulting from the independence of India, The British Commonwealth became known and enshrined as the Commonwealth of Nations; acknowledging their owed common allegiance to the Crown and continue to do so in recognising Her Majesty The Queen as the symbolic Head of the Commonwealth to this day.