Given the size of our City at just under 100,000, we are disproportionately blessed with organisations and volunteers who put on an almost endless stream of Festivals throughout the year.

Just as the Three Choirs finishes, so the Worcester Festival 2014 starts for  two weeks. It’s packed with activities, entertainments and competitions for all ages and interests, most of them free.

It was therefore exciting to have attended the Festival Launch last week with the organisers. This really is an event for everyone since it celebrates Worcester and all aspects of the City, and I’ve already found out just how many of those there are in the cultural and historical spheres alone.

Marking the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, I was proud to lead the Civic Procession from The Guildhall to the Cathedral  on Saturday.

Photo courtesy of Worcester News

I did the Second Reading – the parable of the lost sheep – reminding us all of the importance that God places on people who acknowledge their faults and  consequently change their ways.

In thinking that through, I thought how hard that must be for those politicians and others who have started wars. Hardly any of them recently have admitted they got it wrong, despite the inevitable, enormous and very obvious life-changing consequences for literally millions of other people, preferring instead  to write memoirs justifying their actions.

Admittedly, the bigger the error such as starting a war, the harder it is to acknowledge it, but then the greater will be the reward for those who do.

My historical research has shown that the Mayoral Chain of Office is 150 old this year so I shall be commemorating it in an event later this year by holding an open day when people can come along to see it, touch it, and even put it on for a photo if they would like to.

It is by far the most valuable and fascinating Chain in the country. Not only people from Worcester, but also from far and wide,  have heard about it and are rightly interested in and proud of it.