I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore this week.  He was a symbol of hope and fortitude to us all and helped us to look forward to a better time when we can come together and hug our loved ones and enjoy each other’s company again.  Captain Tom helped us to believe that “tomorrow will be a good day”.  My deepest sympathy goes out to his family and to the families of all those who have lost loved ones during this pandemic.  I am pleased to say that the vaccination programme seems to be on target for all those in the highest risk groups to have had one vaccination by mid-February.

I enjoyed my bi-monthly discussion with the City Council’s CEO, David Blake this week and we were able to catch up on plans for the city centre.  We hope that the grant already awarded of £17.9m from the Future High Street Fund and the bid going in for £27.9m for the Town Investment Plan will bring funding into Worcester that will make the centre of town an attractive and interesting place to visit and live in.  This is an exciting time to be in Worcester.

This week Worcester Twinning Association, of which I am President, set up a zoom meeting attended by our friends from our twin towns of Worcester Massachusetts, le Vesinet, Kleve and Vernon.  We had a very interesting talk from Howard Robinson who told us about the voyage of the Mayflower from Plymouth to New England in 1620 carrying a local man from Droitwich named Edward Winslow.  This was obviously of particular interest to our American friends and our Zoom was attended by over 40 participants all together.  Zoom has certainly helped twinning members to stay in touch and is a way forward for the future of our organisation.

My holiday planning which I told you about last week continues and my wish list of destinations is getting longer every day!  I am going to need plenty of energy to get through it and whether I will manage, I don’t know, but it is going to be great fun trying.