As I write this, it is bitterly cold outside and the temperature is beginning to drop even further as darkness falls.  This week it dropped to nearly -23 degrees in Braemar – and it doesn’t look like there will be much improvement on that tonight.   What I also have in front of me is a vase of spring daffodils, and in spite of the cold outside these simple flowers give me hope of better times to come.  We are approaching the one-year mark since most of us realised that there was something amiss in the world, in the shape of a new virus.  Little did we know then how serious it would be and how much it would change our lives.

Another week in lockdown for me means another week when sadly I cannot come out to meet you and perform those special jobs that you expect from your Mayor.  I have however not been idle.  I attended a Zoom meeting of the Council’s Policy and Resources committee, at which we discussed and approved a budget for next year to be recommended to full Council in two weeks’ time.  I also attended a trustees’ meeting of Worcester Community Trust, again by Zoom.

However, one of the nicest activities of my week was the Zoom meeting to launch the sensory lending library at Fort Royal Primary school.  The Friends of Fort Royal, together with generous donors, raised enough money to buy over 200 pieces of equipment which will help the pupils to extend their period of concentration.  While the children cannot access the equipment at school because of lockdown, they can now borrow it to aid their learning process. What a brilliant idea – many thanks to all those who raised this money to make this possible.

How have you used this lockdown time?  Have you learned a new skill, read that pile of books, decorated that room, tidied the garden or decluttered your cupboards?  If like me you have not done any of these, don’t be disheartened. The coronavirus rate continues to fall in Worcester and with the vaccination programme progressing, we will get through this.