I am pleased to say as an S4 student at 'The Berkeley Institute' my Citizenship class was invited personally by the Premier to attend the Throne Speech.

The Premier wrote in a letter to our class:

"It seems wise that we should do all that we can here at the Cabinet Office to accommodate your request as part of the learning process.

"It would be my pleasure to welcome you and your S4 students."

When our class received this letter, we were honoured to attend the ceremonies for the reconvening of Parliament and listening to 'The Throne Speech'. We were able to recognize all of the Members of Parliament and the Governor. As the proceedings approached, we became more aware of what would actually be going on.

On the day of November 7th, 2008 our class went to the grounds of the Cabinet Office to hear 'The Throne Speech' around 10:30 AM with our teacher, Mr. Owen Darrell. Upon entering the Cabinet grounds, we viewed the statue of Sally Bassett, and saw the many other people that gathered around from other schools to hear 'The Throne Speech'.

Since our class was personally invited, we were also given better seats than the other schools. As many schools stood up around the outside of the gates, our S4 class was seated under the tent with many of the government officials and dignitaries. As the people came in to take their seats, the Bermuda Regiment began to march in, then stood across from the Cabinet Building. A high official then announced the Governor's presence. The Regiment was brought to attention, and everyone under the tent was asked to stand in acknowledgement. The 'Black Rod' was assigned the duty of summoning all the Members of Parliament to be escorted to their seats.

The Supreme Court Justices were dressed in black robes with wigs that looked very hot. This set them apart from the rest and showed their importance. They were then seated along the sides in the front row.

Once the Governor and the officials and dignitaries were all seated the speech began.

The speech was based upon the theme 'A Focus on Family and Youth'. One point that stood out to me was about the Ministry of Education. They spoke about the education of the younger child today and how they will work to improve the emphasis on early education. They also spoke about improving students' learning abilities.

In all, our class really enjoyed attending 'The Throne Speech' and would like to thank the Premier for inviting us. We are glad you chose our class and provided us with the seats you did. We hope that you will not hesitate to invite us again to anything that can benefit us and our education.

We would also like to say a special thank you to our teacher Mr. Darrell who took our class to attend the 'Speech', we really enjoyed it and hope that we will be able to attend more events like this one.