On Friday afternoon, Alison and I entertained many of the volunteers who look after and feed swans at their sanctuary on the River Severn in Worcester.  As the birds have little natural food they are fed with nutritional pellets on a daily basis.  If you would like to feed the swans too, these pellets can be bought at the Cathedral.

And then it was off to a wedding at the Swan Theatre, where Opera Worcester (formerly The Great Witley Operatic Society) was staging their production of The Marriage of Figaro.  A tale of lustful desire, deception and intrigue, all brought about by the wonderful singing from this talented amateur group.

The following day we continued from where we left off last Saturday, by hearing more performances at the Worcester Competitive Arts Festival.  On this occasion we were treated to choral singing from adult groups and some prose by younger competitors.  The children’s readings were both light-hearted and funny.

On Saturday evening we were off to the Cathedral to attend a performance by the Worcester Festival Choral Society of Haydn’s Creation.  This was a stunning, well attended event with magnificent singing and music.  While I will be the first to confess to knowing little about classical music, this was really inspirational.

On Tuesday we were back at the Guildhall, welcoming a number of Italian students from Florence, who were visiting our City and staying as guests with families from a local school.  After seeing them off to go shopping in the High Street, we hosted an event organised by the Worcester Lions.  They had raised a significant amount of money from their Christmas Sleigh event and were able to distribute cheques to a number of representatives from local charities.

Then came the big day:  On Wednesday I set out for a second time to complete that tandem Skydive I have been promising to do.  This time the weather looked good – I travelled to Salisbury Plain where I was met by Sgt. Tom Bellis of the Army’s REME Corp. who together with Chris, my instructor for the day, took me through all the procedures.  Then onto the plane and up to 13,000 feet where, with my heart in my stomach I dangled out of the door and over the edge of the plane, waiting to be pushed out.  And then we went – freefalling at 120mph.  I have to say it was brilliant – and even better when the parachute opened! – and in no time I was back on terra firma.

It was an amazing experience, which has raised a few hundred pounds for local charities thanks to some generous sponsorship.