Mayor of Worcester Blog

Amongst various meetings held at the Guildhall this week I was able to visit Lichfield Cathedral where we joined the Mercian Regiment for the celebration of their tenth Anniversary. The senior officers present extolled the achievements of the regiment in that period at various locations around the globe.

On Sunday, despite the evening being rather damp, a number of people came to the High Street where together with Civil War re-enactors, we processed to the Vue Cinema to watch a film about the Battle of Worcester during the English Civil War.  The director Joe Gaffney made the film particularly for younger viewers, giving a short overview of the Battle and conditions at the time.

From there we marched on to the Commandery before moving on to Fort Royal Hill.  With drums ringing in our ears, we progressed to the top of the hill where the Rev. Canon Alvyn Pettersen gave a service to commemorate the lost lives on both sides.  A minute’s silence was held after the firing of muskets, after which the procession returned to the Commandery.

The following day Alison and I went to Kidderminster to an Awards Ceremony hosted by the Mayor there.  The winners of the Queens Award to Volunteers (equivalent to an MBE) were a group who have done so much to promote the awareness of and raise funds for prostate cancer.

Kidderminster and Worcestershire Prostate Cancer Support Group were granted the award for supporting those in the County suffering from the disease.  The group, which has been going for some 17 years, was given the award by the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, Lady Morrison.

My first engagement of the week was an evening visit to the Barbourne Ex-Services Club where the organisers were bringing together ex-forces personnel from various groups from around the City.  There were those who were members of the Royal British Legion, others who took part in a Breakfast Club and those from the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.  It’s hoped that this getting together will happen on a more regular basis, encourage new members and be another level of support for past service personnel.

The Bank Holiday weekend brought with it engagements at events contained within the Worcester Festival.  It started with great music put on by the English Symphony Orchestra (which is based in Worcester).  The played some very well known music from the Harry Potter and Toy Story films as well as Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf suite.  Narrated by Ben Humphries, some serious applauding let everyone know how much it was enjoyed.  The Swan Theatre hosted its Summer Fete on Sunday and as well as stalls with various ‘goodies,’ it launched its Pantomime Season too.  Actors and actresses in full costume headed over to the Police Station to visit its Open Day. Needless to say – they were jailed!

And on Monday the Festival closed with a fantastic Firework Display.  Lots of ‘oohs and ahhs’ showed just how much the spectacle was appreciated by everyone present who, it should be said donated very generously to those collecting for St. Richard’s Hospice . Lots of thanks to all those who arranged these terrific events.

Later in the week we visited The Hive where we were given a tour of the award winning archive and archaeology sections.  The housing of these archived documents is an impressive affair, with considerable safety precautions for their preservation in place.  This is yet another organisation that runs incredibly well with the help of local volunteers.

This week has provided a little more time for reflection regarding how I can continue to promote my theme of ‘Valuing Volunteers’.  Having listened to so many volunteers out there who do give up their time, generally with the idea of making the lives of others more bearable, it really does appear to be a two-way street.  While helping – be it for a charity, as school governor, a carer, or in whatever capacity – I keep being told that those who do so get a lot back, either through life experience or work skills.

I became aware of how important this facet of volunteering was when delivering awards at the University.  It was brought home to me that employers, while expecting potential employees to have the requisite qualifications, were also seeking young people who could be ambassadors for their companies.  They were looking for leadership and teamwork skills.  Those receiving awards could demonstrate how their volunteering work helped to equip them with these and other competencies.

This was again demonstrated later in the week, when I saw a number of volunteers outside the Guildhall raising money for the Headway charity.  They were selling cakes and keeping youngsters amused at a face painting event.  The amount they raised went towards buying materials to decorate various rooms at the Headway offices.

I was then able to see exactly what work they were doing at Headway and discovered that as well as painting and general indoor maintenance, one group had cleared a piece of ground that had been full of earth and rubbish to make an outside area available to clients at the charity.  The whole enterprise had taken a week and had been arranged by the National Citizen Service, which is open to 15- 17 year olds across England.  The programme builds skills for life – it’s one of the best routes I can recommend to help discover why volunteering is so worthwhile.

 

I think that this week has been a good indication of how Worcester puts on some excellent events.

First on the agenda was the opening of the Worcester Festival outside the Guildhall last Saturday.  We were joined by the Shirley Pipe Band which set off the hundreds of events and attractions that will take place between now and 28th August. A big thanks to Chris Jaeger MBE for organising this.

On Sunday I was privileged to open the Worcester Show at the award winning Gheluvelt Park.  A lovely day with the stalls set out across the park for all to enjoy.  And you certainly came out in droves – the biggest number of visitors ever to this fantastic event:  over 13,000!  From a dog show to the competitions for horticulture, cooking and crafts the entrants indicate just how much local people enjoy this Show. ensuring its continued support.

Then at the end of my week, I opened the Worcester Beer, Cider and Perry Festival at Pitchcroft.  Yet again, people were lining up to get into the huge marquee that houses this event.  I believe that for a few days Worcester will be home to the longest bar in England.  But it’s not just beer; the food outlets in place also make this a brilliant place to spend time relaxing this weekend.

Interspersed with this, I was a guest at the Worcester Lions youth camp evening held at New College.  The Lions had organised for a number of young people from all over the world as far away as South America, Australia and China to visit England and host their time in this country. Again I heard from these visitors just how much they enjoyed Worcester, and how impressed they were with our City.

And finally, continuing with my volunteering theme I visited the workplace of the Worcester Samaritans, whose members work round the clock taking calls and listening to the most harrowing of stories from some very desperate people.  There’s no doubt from their experiences and listening skills that they are able to provide a lot of practical advice to de-escalate some very serious situations.