Mayor of Worcester Blog

Music, dance, theatre and a little friendly extortion of guests was the order of the day at the Mayor’s Charity Evening. Mack the Knife prowled in the background while young people from the VIth Form, the Jazz Orchestra and Academy Theatre Arts entertained us. Food was from the Mix café and proceeds raised through the generosity of guests in the raffle and auction all go to OnSide and Severn Arts. My thanks to all for a successfully fun night.

I was pleased to visit one of those guests at work at ASPIE the self-help group for people with Asperger’s Syndrome. Another voluntary group run on a shoestring, supported by my predecessor Stephen of course.

Having experienced the effects of dementia in my own family I was pleased to don the Speedos for a length or two getting in the way of Lee Thomas’ marathon 24hour swim at Perdiswell Leisure centre. May entice me to get back into it after mayoring is done.

That family connection was continued when I welcomed visitors from Preston to the Parlour with a copy of Lancashire Life in hand!

Another visit was from a family who had identified their ancestor on the Memorial Boards in the Guildhall but whose name was not marked with a cross, signifying he was killed. After some investigation this has been rectified and its history confirmed in writing. And after our Belgian trip to those Great War fields of mud, how thrilling to see locally grown sculptor John McKenna’s ‘Sentry’ unveiled by the Princess Royal at Norton this week. Tribute goes to the Norton Worcestershire Regiment group finally achieving this royal recognition.

Lastly, connections with an earlier war, but still close to home, when we remembered Richard Shaw of the Battle of Worcester Society at a service in the Cathedral.

 

 

 

While you read last week’s blog I was waking up after an exhilarating and humbling day in Belgium. Along with around 20 Worcestershire people, including the Ambassadors and Regimental veterans, we finally unveiled a new memorial to the Worcestershire Regiment in the First World War. We had a guard of serving soldiers from 1 Mercian, standards, pipes and bugles, and local aldermen from Zonnebeke including Burgemeester (Mayor) Ingrid Vandepitte.

The memorial is in the village of Gheluveld (ask me later how really to pronounce it!), the scene of the famous defence by the Worcesters in October 1914.

The same evening three of us were honoured to lay wreaths at the Last Post ceremony held daily since 1922 in the Menin Gate, Iper. Lt. Col Mark Jackson laid one, and read the exhortation ‘They shall grow not old…’, while the other wreathbearer was Russ Walker, whose great grandfather actually fought in the battle.

The rest of the weekend was spent looking round cemeteries, museums and a brewery. Well, it is Belgium!

I was at the Worcester 6 business park for the launch of a new HQ for ZwickRoell, a German machines-testing company, where the owner recounted that he had a pilot’s licence. His father had also been a pilot. In the last war. It’s amazing and poignant that we have come so far in just two generations.

I teamed up with the Ambassadors again for a Question Time session on the current state of Worcestershire. We covered cost of living, mental health, foodbanks, and quality of life, all intrinsic elements to a healthy business economy.

Lastly, the Declaration of the new High Sheriff, Louise Hewett at Worcester’s Shirehall. This is an annual appointment. Interestingly the role is not only High Sheriff of the county, but also of the City and County of Worcester.

I must be the most prolific Mayor on the ukulele – Syrian earthquake appeal this week. Thanks to the generosity of passers-by. We met old friends and workmates celebrating Laurie Gregory’s life, a vivacious and warm-hearted man committed to many causes in West Malvern who led Children’s Social Services across the county for many years.

Thanks to Worcester Concert Brass for their great range of tunes across the centuries. I am looking forward to their performance at the Elgar Festival in June. Which brings me to the master’s Dream of Gerontius, wonderfully performed in the Cathedral.

It’s a real pleasure to be part of so much different music making and performance in the City. Music was on the first day of the Competitive Arts Festival, but my visit was for poetry, prose and theatre. Claines Primary drama group who rehearse in their own time are an example of the array of talent amongst our young people.

Youth was the focus too with Young Enterprise Awards where school students displayed talents of business acumen, organisation, ideas, branding and appeal. And made some cash on the High Street.

I was also pleased to drop in to Vesta Tilley Youth Service at Sugar Daddies Café as part of the launch of a new facility for teenagers.

The exhibition of British Impressionism at the Art Gallery on the Tything is well worth the trip, linking St Ives and Cornwall with Malvern in the 19th and 20th centuries. And at the other end of town, the lunch for volunteers at the Museum of Royal Worcester was a delight. A chance to look at the collections and thank Sir Michael Perry for his work leading the Trustees over recent years.

And just time to say hi to a great new business network, Buzz, before shooting off to Belgium.

It’s been an international week. Students from Worcester in Massachusetts, and Japan have visited the Parlour and been impressed with the Guildhall, a heritage site at the centre of our democracy, and also a working building. And in stormy conditions we raised the Commonwealth Flag and spoke on the Guildhall steps of the importance of those trans-national links.

In one day I went from a small parish church to a huge cavernous abbey without really straying in time, either from their foundation and build, or modern time. First a small, friendly civic service at St Peter’s Droitwich, home of the Winslow Boy, and his brothers, who sailed on the Mayflower. Fascinating not least because we have their baptism registers in The Hive. Then Tewkesbury Abbey, a splendid creation, built for thousands of pilgrims and now, with shrinking worshippers, even more grand and impressive to look at. Well worth a visit to the edge of our county, once in the Worcester Diocese.

We hosted a thank-you event for volunteers who come from all sorts of organisations, including my chosen charities, OnSide and Severn Arts. I have written before about the impressive network of community volunteers, including parents and carers, who keep our city going. From the Mela to the Battle of Worcester; from care and health to litter picks and the Swan Sanctuary. Park runs, carnival, allotments, museums, police cadets – all adding life and value.

Some are thriving, others in need of support. Volunteering can be helping others, but also about helping yourself and is enriching, healthy and fun.

Finally, huge thanks to the generosity of former players at the Worcester RFC. We had a great lunch, met old friends, had an occasionally funny speech, were urged to test for prostate cancer, and raised a lot of cash for my Mayoral Charities. Cheers!