RESIDENTS gathered outside the council offices to celebrate the Commonwealth of Nations at a flag raising ceremony as the town’s mayor commended the “world wide community spirit”.

Weymouth Town Council was one of the sites where more than 850 flags were flown to mark Commonwealth Day 2020. The standard was raised at a ceremony led by Mayor of Weymouth Graham Winter on Monday morning, at which he relayed a message from the Queen to the gathered residents.

The Queen’s message said: “Throughout my life, I have had the opportunity to see and hear how membership of the Commonwealth family means so much to those living in all parts of the world, often in places that are quite remote. Advances in technology and modern media have now enabled many more people to witness and enjoy – with remarkable immediacy – this experience of Commonwealth connection, in areas such as education, medicine and conservation.”

Town Clerk Jane Biscombe also spoke at the ceremony, delivering an address from the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland.

She said: “We are more aware than ever how what any single country does can affect for good or ill the wellbeing of our entire world and the welfare of everyone with whom we share it.”

The flag of the Commonwealth of Nations was raised outside the Weymouth Town Council offices by the mayor and Major Ray Byrne.

There were also standard bearers from various services who attended the ceremony - these included representatives from the coastguard, merchant navy, RAF, legion and the navy.

The theme of this year’s Commonwealth Day is ‘delivering a common future’ - the mayor said he believes that, in keeping with this theme, a global community spirit is going strong and that humanity is facing a “brighter future”.

The mayor said: “I think people are becoming much more aware of community. It is even happening locally. Global issues are affecting individuals much more than perhaps they used to. So much more information is available instantly. I think there is much more of the world wide community spirit. I think humanity itself is looking towards a brighter future for everybody.”

Commonwealth Day is a celebration of the Commonwealth of Nations, a group of more than 50 countries most of which used to be a part of the British Empire.