Sunday 6 July 2008

Citizenship Ceremonies

One of the sections covered by my new Exec Member Portfolio on the City Council is the registrars. They do all the things you'd expect but they also carry out citizenship ceremonies on behalf of the Home Office. I had thought there would be a few of these a year, but actually there are about three a month with about 20 new citizens (and their families) at each.

I am going on the list of "speakers" for the ceremonies, but wanted to sit through one first, so I popped along today.

It is a short, but dignified, ceremony with everyone repeating an oath and then coming up for a certificate. There are two oaths - one involves swearing "by almighty God" and the other involves affirming.

It was a very "smiley" event with everyone dressed up. Unfortunately as we all left the heavens opened so the new citizens got an extra dose of typical British weather.

No comments: