I was proud to open the new Angel Place Market, as it certainly needed a good makeover. We now have a mix of new and traditional traders with a wide-range of products, and the speciality cheese and pie stalls have raised it to the level of a continental-style market. This location can now take its rightful place at the very heart of City Centre shopping.

The Christmas season got firmly underway with the RGS Schools’ Christmas Concerts at the school and Cathedral. The Reception/Nursery class production brought a lot of “aahs” from the audience – and me.

It was wonderful to see the enthusiasm of the members of the Feelgood Ladies Group during their visit to the Parlour. As I always say, being young is not about age but outlook and attitude, and those ladies were certainly young at heart. Even the children don’t try to make off with the Mayor’s Chain!

 Opening the Daisychain Benevolent Fund Christmas Tree Festival was a pleasure – and a triumph that I managed to flick the right switch to turn all the lights on. The box was full of switches so, if I got it wrong, I would have plunged the Cathedral into darkness! Hence a mixture of delight and relief. But selecting the Mayor’s Choice of Best Tree was extremely difficult because there was such a wide range and every single one was the result of much careful hard work. Nonetheless, after a number of inspections around the cloisters, and mindful that Christmas is a time for children, Pitmaston Primary School won the prize but, really, every tree was a winner.

And talking of children, “Aladdin The Panto” at Worcester Arts Workshop by Allsorts, a new children’s theatre school for the community, was pure entertainment – (and the best nachos from the cafe I’ve ever had.) Well done Stuart Inglis and the whole production team. We must all continue to support this important venue for Worcester arts.

 Holding a bucket outside The Guildhall to raise funds for the Rotary Club’s Christmas Parcels is a great tradition, and I stayed there right until I could no longer feel my feet and had to go and thaw out!

 Enjoying a performance of Handel’s Messiah by Worcester Festival Choral Society in The Cathedral was a fitting end to a wonderful Christmas week.