There were celebrations from Macclesfield's Mayor and Mayoress this week - as Mayoress Natalia Belinskaya became a British citizen.

In a small ceremony held in Crewe Town Hall, Natalia, the wife of Macclesfield's Mayor David Edwardes finally took British Citizenship.

After passing her tests of language and knowledge with flying colours, the Tytherington resident swore an oath to Queen and country today to be a faithful citizen.

Natalia also gave a formal public pledge to observe the laws of this country, before signing her papers and standing proudly for the national anthem. Thus, completing her path to citizenship.

She originally corresponded with Tytherington Ward Councillor David online back in 1999, and they met up in Spain, with her son Alex, where David was living at the time. Alex lives and works in Macclesfield.

They were soon married in the Russian Consulate in Madrid followed by a ceremony in the Russian Orthodox Church, Altea.

Their two sons Max (15) and Miguel (17) accompanied their proud parents at the citizenship ceremony.

The boys were born in Spain, but were given British passports, with Natalia being the last in their family of five to become a British citizen.

"I am delighted to become a citizen as I now consider Britain to be my country and my home", she said.

"I wanted to be the same nationality as my family. I think it is important - and I feel that I am more British now than Russian.

"It was very interesting learning about historic dates and British history. There was a lot of stuff that many British people don't know about!

"The ceremony itself was very emotional and very special. It was wonderful."

It has been a year full of celebration for the Macclesfield married couple.

David and Natalia celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary in May - the same month they adopted their new Mayoral positions.

"Coming to live in the UK in 2012 we had to go through the process of Natalia obtaining residency but when we came out of the European Union they changed the rules!" added David.

"This then lead to applying for the citizenship. It has always been an aim of ours to have citizenship for the family - and we are all proudly "British" now."

The Mayoress who was born in Russia - works for Tesco Macclesfield (Hibel Road) and is an accomplished chocolate maker in her spare time. She also performs various duties with and without the Mayor.

The Mayoress has recently been supporting women's refuge services in Macclesfield.

She is looking forward to her final seven months as Mayoress as a British citizen.

The pair will be Macclesfield's Mayor and Mayoress until May 2022.

Macclesfield Nub News congratulates Natalia, and her family on this very special occasion.

Macclesfield Town Mayor David Edwardes is Tytherington Ward Councillor (jointly with Lloyd Roberts) for Cheshire East and Macclesfield Town Council.

He is also Chair of Licensing for Cheshire East, and Vice-Chair of Planning for Macclesfield Town Council.

You can learn more about Macclesfield's Mayor and Mayoress here.

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