Mayor of Worcester Blog

Summer has arrived, and last weekend Worcester was able enjoy two popular events that are huge part of the city’s summer calendar.

On Saturday morning I had the honour of opening the Worcester Festival, which runs until August Bank Holiday Monday. The event is in its nineteenth year and features 711 events across 57 venues, with most of these events being free. Chris Jaeger and his team have done a fantastic job organising this. I was thrilled to see the mascot Percy the Peacock on the High Street, joining in with the Worcester Ukulele club outside the Guildhall.

Sunday was also the anniversary of VJ Day.  I made a speech on behalf of the city which was released on video to mark the seventy-sixth anniversary of that event, and to remember the horrors of a war in which around 75 million people died. This can be viewed on Worcester City Council’s YouTube channel.

In the afternoon I had the pleasure of opening the Worcester Show, which has moved from its traditional home in Gheluvelt Park to Pitchcroft. The show included live bands, fairground-style attractions, a have-a-go sports zone and local food and drink. There were two marquees where judging of over 130 competitive creative classes was held, and later I did the honours by handing out the prizes. There was also a dog competition which Monty, our long-haired miniature dachshund took part in. The highly popular event attracted an estimated crowd of up to twenty thousand.

My final engagement this week was a visit to the Latimer Court care home off Newtown Road. Covid has not been an easy time for the care homes sector, and it was good to be able to meet the manager Lisa Riddle and her staff, along with some of the residents, for afternoon tea. Rachel Brady, the Activities Coordinator, told the mayoress and I how much she was looking forward to organising more activities and taking residents out in the minibus now the worst of the Covid pandemic was behind us.

At the start of my mayoral year, I announced that my theme would be coming back together and as my term as Mayor progresses this is becoming more and more apparent that this is happening.

On Thursday I attended the Snoezey Fest Art opening event at Worcester Snoezelen’s impressive premises on the University campus site. I met Jane Roberts, the Chief Officer, Eric Rhodes, the Chair of the Trustees, other trustees, parents, and users of the impressive facilities. I once again met Brigadier Roger Brunt CBE DL who is the charity’s new patron. I last visited Worcester Snoezelen back in 2008 when I was consort to my wife Lucy, who was Mayor that year. This charity art exhibition of works produced by the users will hopefully raise funds for Worcester Snoezelen’s work.

On Friday evening the mayoress and I enjoyed a cruise on the River Severn on board The River King that was organised by the Mayor of Droitwich Spa, Councillor Bill Moy. We departed from Stourport-on-Severn and proceeds from the event were for the Mayor of Droitwich Spa’s Charities.

Today I will be opening the Worcester Festival with a speech at the Guildhall, and I hope the event will be well-supported. It’s great to see many of our venues in the city open again. Earlier in the week, in a non-mayoral capacity, I went to Huntingdon Hall with some friends to hear Nigel Owens, the former international rugby union referee. This was the first event back there since the Covid pandemic.

As a sports fan, it is great to see spectators back again. Last Saturday I travelled up north to watch Sunderland, the football team I support, for the first time since January 2019 and on Tuesday I watched the cricket at New Road. I must be the first Mayor of the city who was pleased the opposition, Durham, won.

Tomorrow I will be at the Worcester Show on Pitchcroft so do come along and see what our city has to offer.

Last Saturday I attended the final evening concert in the Cathedral for the Three Choirs Festival. The Armstrong Gibbs‘s Choral Symphony told the story of Odysseus in an hour-long performance. Two soloists, Ruby Hughes and the South African born baritone Njabulo Madlala accompanied the Festival Chorus which features many local members – including fellow Worcester City Councillor Marjory Bisset.

Afterwards the Mayoress and I were able to meet up with the Festival Chorus at the Thank You Dinner in the College Hall. I would particularly like to thank Grace Green, the Development Manager of The Three Choir Festival and staff and volunteers for the fantastic week of concerts and other events that make up the festival.

On Wednesday it was National Play Day and I had the pleasure of opening a family event held at Gheulvelt Park. Hayley Tally and Phil Weston from Perdiswell Young People’s Leisure Club were the main organisers and showed us around the park where numerous activities were arranged.

They included crafts provided by the Worcester Play Council, face painting and a range of sporting activities from football to archery; the latter I tried rather unsuccessfully! There were also a group rhythm drumming set, which the Mayoress and I joined in. Other attractions included children’s fairground rides, an inflatable slide and there were also free hot dogs for the children. The weather was especially kind and the youngsters enjoyed meeting our dog Monty, who accompanied us around the event.

This week Worcester has hosted The Three Choirs Festival, and as Mayor I am lucky enough to attend at least one of the main concerts that are held in the Cathedral. On Tuesday the Mayoress and I were invited to the Three Choirs Festival reception which was held at the Michael Barker Boathouse which belongs to the King’s School. I was able to meet Dr Alexis Paterson, who is the Chief Executive of the Three Choirs Festival, and Ben Cooper, chair of the Worcester Festival Committee.

With the uncertainty over Covid restrictions it has been a challenge for the organisers to put on a high-quality programme of events, which they have certainly met.

Tuesday’s concert featured the festival commission premiere of The World Imagined, which sets four different poems to a music score composed by Gabriel Jackson, whom I met both before and after the performance. The first half of the same concert included a performance of Edward Elgar’s Enigma Variations and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Solemn Prelude, which were debuted at a Three Choirs Festival concert in Worcester Cathedral back in 1899.

After the concert I spoke to some of the audience members, including one couple who come every time from their home in Stone in Staffordshire on their canal boat and stay in Worcester (or Gloucester) for a few days to attend the Three Choirs Festival.

Earlier on Tuesday I attended the launch of the Mount Battenhall Retirement Village. This development of the former St. Mary’s Convent School is very impressive and Neil Davison, Managing Director of Enterprise Retirement Living, showed myself and the Mayoress around. The retirement village, which has an impressive array of facilities, will create new job opportunities.