Commonwealth Day 2007

The Commonwealth of Nations, (usually known as The Commonwealth), is a association of 53 independent sovereign states, all of which, with the exception of Mozambique, are former colonies of the United Kingdom. Commonwealth Day is the annual celebration held on the second Monday in March. It is marked by a multi-faith service normally attended by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, The Head of the Commonwealth, Commonwealth Secretary-General and the Commonwealth High Commissioners in London. The Queen delivers an address to the Commonwealth which is broadcast throughout the world on the BBC. Commonwealth Day is not a public holiday in most Commonwealth countries and there is little public awareness of it.

Current Members:

Australia, Canada (1931), Irish Free State (1931; left in 1949), Newfoundland (1931; became a province of Canada in 1949),New Zealand (1931), South Africa (1931; left in 1961; rejoined in 1994),United Kingdom (1931), India (1947), Pakistan (1947; left in 1972; rejoined 1989; suspended in 1999; readmitted in 2004), Sri Lanka (1948), Ghana (1957), Malaysia (1957), Nigeria (1960; suspended in 1995; readmitted in 1999), Cyprus (1961), Tanganyika (1961), Sierra Leone (1961), Jamaica (1962), Trinidad and Tobago (1962), Uganda (1962), Kenya (1963), Zanzibar (1963; merged with Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964), Malawi (1964), Malta (1964), Tanzania (1964), Zambia (1964), The Gambia (1965), Singapore (1965), Barbados (1966), Botswana (1966), Guyana (1966), Lesotho (1966), Mauritius (1968), Swaziland (1968), Fiji (1970; left in 1987; rejoined in 1997; suspended in 2000; readmitted in 2001), Samoa (1970), Tonga (1970), Bangladesh (1972, The Bahamas (1973), Grenada (1974), Papua New Guinea (1975), Seychelles (1976), Dominica (1978), Solomon Islands (1978), Tuvalu (1978), Kiribati (1979)Saint Lucia (1979), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (1979), Vanuatu (1980), Zimbabwe (1980; suspended in 2002; left in 2003), Antigua and Barbuda (1981),Belize (1981), Maldives (1982), Saint Kitts and Nevis (1983), Brunei (1984), Namibia (1990), Cameroon (1995), Mozambique (1995) & Nauru (2000)

The numbers really say something about the land that god couldn't trust in the dark!