Mayor of Worcester Blog

Greek tragedy is not my ‘go to’ great night normally, but the excellent production of Antigone by Worcester Rep. was worth the trip. On the face of it, the story is a spiral of tragedies, one after another, but over the centuries it still speaks of issues of import. Of mental health, love, women’s rights, dictatorial power, all starkly exposed on a simple stage set for a modern audience. And great to see so many young people in that audience too.

Younger people enjoyed the most of Severn Arts’ Learn to Play event, trying out violins and trombones and guitars at the Arches last Saturday. And we met even younger people still, for Summer Reading Challenge winners from across Worcestershire came to The Hive for an award ceremony. Over 150 children over two days collected their awards. I hope they look back on their photo with the Mayor (there were lots of them!) and encourage their own children to carry on reading. Thanks to my deputy, Louis, for covering Day two when I was at a family funeral.

Passports in hand, we visited in Hereford at the weekend to give a big cider “cheers” to the AppleFest. Not only great hosts in the Town Hall, but a range of ciders on offer, including fizz and brandy, celebrating the apples and the many producers. This is the first of what is hoped will become annual festivals at harvest time, celebrating an industry and county often overlooked.

Thanks to everyone who donated to my JustGiving page supporting last month’s 10k Run – we have reached £1,500! Both Severn Arts and OnSide will benefit, and hopefully Monday’s World Mental Health Day did not go unnoticed by the wider population, but for many people, every day is a mental health day.

If you can’t get to Venice this year, pop down to the Museum and Art Gallery on the Tything and see a fantastic collection of beautiful paintings of the city by Canaletto. This is a real coup for us to be able to see so many masterpieces in one place. His paintings are so accurate they have been used to rebuild cities and chart climate change on the canals, which seems bizarre but of real interest to attendees of the first City Environmental Summit, held last week. Let’s hope we make real progress here, so that we don’t have to rely on an 18th century painter to remember what our planet looked like.

It is 50 years since the first Pride march in London and the need to celebrate and protest in equal measure was shown on Saturday when I was able to walk with our MP at the head of a great parade. Well done to everyone taking part and raising our awareness.

That need for profile raising was shown later in the day at the launch of Black History Month, an opportunity to confront our past but also to celebrate the way in which Black History has contributed to Worcester’s own story, and continues to do so.

Community and volunteering is so often the theme of my visits, this time to mark the 20 plus years of the Bridge Counselling Service, and also the promotion of new and developing community activity in Rainbow Hill – my own Council area. The depth of support and activity is a constant surprise to me.

Finally back to the past – 40 years on Radio Wyvern was re-launched this week, along with those DJs, Sammy Southall, Mike George, Muff Murfin. Names that people of our generation probably remember the most. And the tunes! Takes you back doesn’t it, Tramps, Images…

I officially opened a new Migrant Centre to help people develop skills to be more self-reliant and adapt to UK living. Sometimes complex job and benefit applications, sometimes simple driving etiquette! Great to see local assistance for this terrible international situation.

I caught up to present the final trophies to winners from the Worcester Show, albeit slightly delayed, and was then honoured to present more awards for users of the Wildgoose Rural Training Centre, an amazing group of carers, staff and volunteers showing how caring for the environment, growing things, and looking after farm animals can help people with mental and physical challenges, thrive. Many of them too had won at this year’s Worcester and Hallow Shows.

Manufactured artistic talent was on display at the Royal Porcelain Museum for a new exhibition of their Showstopper treasures. This is a great museum, and central to Worcester’s industrial and social history. Go in person or visit this new trail online, it’s well worth it.

The annual Mayor’s Dinner saw lots of representatives from local charities, community organisations, businesses mix with civic guests. It was a fun occasion and lovely to see friends and family too. My charities, OnSide Advocacy and Severn Arts were well represented and Behind the Smile and the local Parkinson’s Group were also invited. Link Nurseries from Powick, a centre for improving mental and physical health through horticulture, supplied sustainable pots of bulbs instead of cut flowers.

The event’s aim is to make new connections and generate future collaborations across the city and our keynote speaker, Jim O’Toole, gave a clear insight as to why Worcester is so interdependent across sport, culture, economic development, community organisations, volunteering and business. He had some words about Warriors of course but what is said on tour, stays on tour, as it were. It did prompt a couple of us to ruck up at Sixways on Monday night with no other plan than to see the locks being put on.