If the High Commission is regarded in law at Sierra Leonean territory, I was there last week and will visit again next week! Why? Not for the weather. Last week it was cloudy and cold with spots of rain in Eagle Street a short way from Holborn tube station. I presented visa applications for 8 people, and was welcomed and looked after by a pleasant and efficient young man who gave me the raffle tickets that I must present to get the completed passports.
The High Commissioner has been in London for nearly a year. H.E. Mr. Edward M. Turay presented his credentials to H.M. The Queen on the 23rd March last year. As a young man he qualified as a barrister at nearby Lincoln's Inn, which has produced many well-known students who moved on from the law to politics,
Sir Thomas Moore, William Penn, William Pitt and Margaret Thatcher among them.
After the High Commission I went on an entertaining guided walk around the Inns of Court and we passed through Lincoln's Inn.
The entrance to Lincoln's Inn
The High Commission is currently arranging events to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the granting of Independence to Sierra Leone in 1961. These began with a launch Dinner and Dance Gala Extravaganza on the 12th February in Bayswater, London, at which the President of the Republic, H.E. Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma, was present.
The actual day in 1961 was the 27th April and the Duke of Kent represented the Queen.
Her Majesty visited the country with her husband, Prince Philip, later in the year. Her signature in the visitor's book in Freetown Cathedral is dated 20th November.
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