Congratulations to Kay’s pantomime, which celebrated its 60^th birthday this year. Their version of Cinderella was tremendous fun, with some very talented singing and dancing. The ugly sisters were hilarious and managed to unnerve most of the men in the audience when they left the stage in search of boyfriends. Next year, Kays are performing Babes in the Wood. Don’t miss it!

It was a pleasure to welcome local Poet Laureate Tim Cranmore to the Parlour this week. As well as being a noted poet, Tim is a musician and recorder maker. You may have seen him recently on television, making novelty recorders out of carrots.

Worcester Volunteer Centre launched their new website on Tuesday. It carries a lot of useful information for anyone wanting to volunteer, run a charity or find funding. Many of their volunteers have been with WVC for years and seem to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Worcester Wheels, Young Roots and Young Volunteers and inter-generational work are just a few of the current projects, either supported or carried out by the Volunteer Centre – but the centre says it is happy to hear from anyone with a volunteering idea.

Phil and I also welcomed the Worcester Detachment of army cadets to the Parlour for a talk about what the Mayor does and the history of the mayoralty. They were a bit surprised to learn that Worcester has had a mayor since the reign of King James 1st and before that, a High Bailiff since the 1200s!