Mayor of Worcester

Le Vésinet is a small town west of Paris, with a population of around 17,000.

Worcester has been twinned with them since 1994 as part of the post-war movement to build cross-border community ties and promote peace across Europe.

Last weekend marked the Fête de la Marguerite in France, with a major celebration in Le Vésinet.

They also celebrated 20 years of being twinned with Villanueva de la Cañada in Spain by inviting visitors from all of their twin towns around the world.

The twinning associations aim to share culture and language, so the weekend featured Spanish traditions such as flamenco dancing alongside French traditions like the Dinner in White.

One of my favourite events was “Mondevision”, where singers from Le Vésinet’s twin towns competed and the winners from each town were invited to perform on a large stage in one of their parks.

This took place during the Dinner in White, where hundreds of people dressed entirely in white brought their own tables, tableware and picnic food to enjoy as a shared meal together. Despite the intense heat, the community spirit was fantastic.

We hope this visit strengthens our connection and leads to more exchanges in the future.

We are very grateful to Worcester Twinning Association for organising the visit and to our host family for welcoming us into their beautiful home.

We particularly enjoyed meeting Jean-Baptiste Jonemann, one of the Deputy Mayors, and we’re very sorry we couldn’t take you up on the offer of clubbing in Paris on Saturday night.

Sunday was the Civic Service. Worcester has held a Civic Service since 1621, when King James I, granted the city its own legal identity, locally elected leadership and powers over public services, planning and taxation. The service marks the start of each new mayoral year.

The service is always special, but it was even more memorable to be the one sitting in the chair at the front and giving one of the readings.

One particularly funny moment came when my mum, who had popped into The Guildhall to wish me luck, stayed a little too long and ended up having to join the procession to the Cathedral.

Thank you to Dean Stephen Edwards and everyone at the Cathedral for organising such a lovely service.

I helped raise two flags on Monday, for Windrush Day and Armed Forces Week.

It is incredibly important to recognise and thank the men and women who serve, or have served, in our Armed Forces. It is also important to recognise African-Caribbeans who began arriving to the UK in 1948, helping us rebuild our country after World War Two.

A week to celebrate our freedom and security, as well as the food, music and rich culture we are very lucky to receive.

In a rather regular looking house on Edgar Street there is an organisation that helps young people with their mental health. They give young people a safe space and the chance to talk through issues and develop mechanisms to cope with the world they are living in, and they do all of this through play.

Last week I was thrilled to visit Our Space Play and Family Therapies to talk about the work they do and the issues they face securing funding for their work. They have many extensively trained therapists but they are not currently eligible for registration with the Health and Care Professions Council, in the same way that arts or music therapists are. Therefore, they rely on donations and parents to be able to pay for their work. They offer a really valuable service in our community and I hope they are able to secure funding to continue for a long time.

It was lovely to return to Kidderminster over the weekend, where I spent many years studying at Kidderminster College. This was for Mayor Shazu Miah’s Civic Service. I thought Shazu’s choice of reading was lovely. It spoke of how we should support and learn from the younger generation, which related to his charity, Kidderminster & District Youth Trust (KYDYT). KYDYT run a number of youth clubs in Kidderminster and aim to support and empower young people. Shazu’s other charity is H.E.L.P Kidderminster, who support homeless people in the community. Both are fantastic causes and well needed.

On Monday, I welcomed some German exchange students to the Guildhall. They were part of an exchange programme with Blessed Edward’s and they were somewhat impressed by my very rudimentary German speaking ability. It is concerning to think that I achieved an A in my GCSE German 10 years ago and now I can just about string together a few lines. However, I was able to introduce myself as “die Bürgermeisterin” and tell them they were a “fantastiche gruppe von studenten”.

I judged my first-ever speaking competition at Hollymount School. The year 3s and 4s gave a reading of their favourite poem and the Year 5s and 6s read a short piece they had written about someone who inspired them. Among the list of inspiring people were Sir David Attenborough, Ariana Grande and “my dad”. It was incredibly difficult to judge the competition as they were all brilliant. I had to stop myself from putting 10/10 in all categories. The students clearly enjoyed it and developed skills that will support them for the rest of their lives. The competition is run each year by Worcester Rotary Club, who do many things to support Hollymount and their sister school Carnforth.