Mayor of Worcester Blog

I’d visited Maggs a few years ago and mistakenly thought I knew Maggs. I visited them this week and learnt that they are getting bigger and more ambitious. Maggs is a charity that supports the homeless and vulnerable. They provide the basics, a lifeline to help people survive the worst of what life throws at them.

The people they are helping often have a big mistrust of society and have very often been subjected to a series of adverse childhood experiences from an upbringing where their parents may have separated, in homes that have physical or sexual abuse, where a parent has been to prison or had issues with alcohol or drug abuse. How lucky am I to have not endured what many of them have endured?

At their core Maggs operate through open-door day centres, where they provide service users the essentials of life, such as a cooked breakfast, showers, clothing washing and drying, and much more. These people often have a large distrust of society, so once through the door the Maggs team will sensitively help them with referrals, housing, benefits, appointments, and whatever the service users need to give them the confidence and support to take the first steps to achieving their goals.

Maggs also support service users through the Clothing Project. This is run solely on donations from the public and offers things from basic essentials like underwear, sleeping bags, and toiletries to houseware items like kettles, cutlery etc to those who have secured housing.

The Maggs team is second to none. They are incredibly passionate, working tirelessly to offer exceptional support and help to bring light into service users’ lives, also instilling the hope that there is somebody who cares.

It’s been a week of contrasts. On Sunday the Mayoress and I had the pleasure of attending the first game of the season for Worcester City Women Football Club. It’s a friendly club, that, just like the men’s team, is run on the massive goodwill of friends, families, supporters and volunteers. The game finished with a one-all draw which I’m told was a good result against their opponents Lye Ladies. Although only about two years old, the club had me thinking I’ll look back at this day in a few years and think that this was the moment that a very successful football team broke into our consciousness.

Later that afternoon we attended the Battle of Worcester (BoW) Drumhead Parade which commemorated 372 years since the final day of the Battle of Worcester on 3rd September 1651. Daniel Daniels, chair of the BoW society, gave an informative speech on Fort Royal Hill. The civil war was a bloody affair and more people died as percentage of the population than in either the First or Second World Wars. On that day alone, the last day of war, one thousand people died. Putting that into perspective the normal population of the city at that time was just 7000. Bodies were strewn all around the city streets.

On Monday it was the funeral for Cllr Andy Roberts. It was held in the Cathedral and such were the numbers present everyone had to share ‘one between two’ the printed orders of service. As many will know, Andy worked his way up the ranks in the fire service to become a senior manager. He had a rich and varied life, he was a friendly and popular man who will be greatly missed by so many people.

The Swedish Nightingale

One of the great privileges of being Mayor is to nominate a charity. My chosen charity is Age UK Worcester and Malvern Hills. One of my predecessors, Mayor Padmore, assisted with choosing which charity would benefit from proceeds raised at a special musical event in 1849.

Jenny Lind, an opera singer known as the Swedish Nightingale, visited Worcester by invitation of the Bishop, the Right Reverend Henry Pepys, to perform at College Hall for ‘one night only’ on Friday 2 February 1849 in aid of charity. He called a meeting of local dignitaries and requested suggestions for which charity should be the beneficiary. Mayor Padmore was among the group and helped with the selection of Worcester Infirmary.

Ms Lind and her company of performers raised £840. The proceeds were given to the infirmary for the creation of a chapel and to assist with other monetary needs. The sum of £840 was quite considerable in 1849, today it would be equivalent to over £87,000, an extremely generous donation.

2024 will be the 175th anniversary of this remarkable philanthropic achievement.

I recently met Michele and Cat Lammas, from Hatpin Productions CIC who are working with a team of volunteers and project partners to create celebrations of the event during the 175th anniversary year. We discussed the outline arrangements and I offered to support the venture wholeheartedly, initially with introductions to members of our local musical community. I look forward to seeing the development of this anniversary celebration and being involved in the plans as they move forward.

Hatpin Productions CIC is a non-profit company based at The Kiln Co-working offices in the city centre. The chosen charity for anniversary event donations is Acorns Children’s Hospice. www.hatpinproductions.co.uk

It was a real privilege to be invited to make a speech at a very special event this week to mark Ukraine Independence Day. The event was held in Cripplegate Park and around 100 people attended.

We joined in a circle holding hands, joining in the worldwide chain of unity and sang along to the Ukraine national anthem as others did across the world, both as a sign of unity and to express their gratitude at those countries which have supported Ukrainian refugees.

I was given a beautiful handmade wreath to wear on my head and some other ladies wore them too.

After the circle we gathered in the pavilion which has been recently painted and decorated by the Friends of Cripplegate group.  We enjoyed traditional Ukrainian food and soft drinks – a lot of food, including some rather nice potato and some mushroom savouries – my description does not do it justice!  Ukrainian music was then played and there were Ukrainian national dances.

People gathered outside and dancing was continuing as I left.  The tables inside and outside were beautifully decorated. I met one of the family hosts too. The kindness I was shown was second to none and  I am very touched to have met such warm and amazing people.

I have had a busy first few months as deputy mayor  and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I have attended art exhibitions, musical performances, summer fetes and, of course the wonderful Worcester Show. I was also pleased to lead the parade for the Worcestershire Pride event – it was lovely to see so many young and positive people, plus a bright array of clothes and some talented make-up.