I write this week’s column having just learned of the sudden death of former mayor Mike Layland. Mike served as a city councillor for most of his life. He was well known and respected throughout our city. Our thoughts are with his wife June and other family members at this sad time.

Juggling the diary and trying to do as much as possible each day is part and parcel of the life of being Mayor and it is particularly challenging right now.

Mayoral duties take priority, so other things have to be fitted in. Our daughter’s wedding last Saturday was, of course, an exception and could not be moved! It was an extremely happy and memorable day.

On Easter Monday, about two hundred adults and children came to the free Easter Eggstravaganza in Fort Royal Park. The rain stayed away until the end of the event and everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun.

This has been Go Green Week in Worcester and we dropped by the launch event on Tuesday. A temporary kitchen had been erected in front of The Guildhall, which offered free vegetable curry and fritters to everyone showing an interest. This showed that 1,000 meals can, with a little ingenuity, be made from the food which an average family throws away every year, saving several hundred pounds.

In the evening, retired Upton GP, Dr David Webster, who spent much of his life providing medical help to extremely deprived people living in East Africa, presented a fascinating illustrated talk about his work. This was the sixth annual Mayor’s Medical Lecture and has become something of a tradition. The audience made welcome contributions to my charities.

Somehow, I have to find time to knock on a few hundred doors before I hand over my chain of office. It must be election time!