Mayor Mel Allcott – Mayor of Worcester Blog

MAYOR’S WEEK – 5 – 11 JANUARY 2025

10/01/2025 Mayor Mel Allcott Comments 0 Comment

My theme for this year is Youth Matters.

Young people face an ever challenging and complicated environment.

Young people can be too easily forgotten and being less likely than older age ranges to speak up, they need support and they need a voice.

My charity for the year is Perdiwsell Young People’s Leisure Club.

Formed in 1976 in an old wartime asbestos Nissen hut, it gained charitable status in 1986 and is now in a much more modern building and known to many simply as the “blue roof”.

Keeping with its original objectives, “blue roof” provides educational and leisure time activities and facilities and supports charitable purposes in the local community.

Inclusion groups, musical groups and the skate park are good examples of activities on offer.

“Blue roof” is the largest provider of youth services in our city.

This year, I am hosting a Pride and Prejudice Charity Banquet in the beautiful Assembly Room at the Guildhall on Friday, 28 March at 6.45pm.

Organised in collaboration with the Mayor’s Charity, Perdiswell Young People’s Leisure Club, the evening will include a drinks reception with entertainment in the Lower Hall, a three-course dinner in the Assembly Room with a full programme of live music and entertainment, a silent auction, live auction of donated items and a raffle.

Please check your calendars and if available, tickets can easily be purchased by email to civicoffice@worcester.gov.uk

A graphic with details of the Mayor's Charity Banquet

MAYOR’S WEEK: 29 DECEMBER – 4 JANUARY 2025

03/01/2025 Mayor Mel Allcott Comments 0 Comment

The Great Swan Feed

Between Christmas and the New Year I thoroughly enjoyed being at Worcester’s annual Great Swan Feed.

It was an absolute pleasure, to be out on a fairly sunny day, with lots of residents and visitors to feed many, many swans.

Close up, I find you can really appreciate how majestic the swans are.

Chair and co-ordinator Marilyn McCarthy heads up the city’s Swan Food Project and works year-round with volunteers, to feed and support our swans on our River Severn.

Also to educate people on all things about swans and how best to care for them.

Marilyn was particularly patient with all my questions.

Thank you to Brown’s Restaurant for kindly serving a group of volunteers, my consort and myself, with some free dainty and delicious sweet treats and plenty of tea and coffee, as a thank you, for being volunteers and supporting the swans.

The refreshments were very much needed and appreciated, even on a partially sunny day, the air is cold in December.

I had attended the same event last year as Deputy Mayor, but the weather was atrocious and the River Severn had already flooded.

Understandably less people were out last year, but we did manage to feed a lot of swans from the water’s edge outside of Brown’s Restaurant.

It is 2025 and many of us will be making New Years’ Resolutions.

If you have a little or a lot of spare time, or something in between, I fully recommend volunteering for the Swan Food Project.

Volunteers are always needed and there are lots of jobs that need doing, including feeding the swans.

You can make contact via the website www.theswanfoodproject.co.uk/about-us/

Or if you prefer to contact in person, please feel free to contact me via the Civic Office and we can pass on your telephone number.

MAYOR’S WEEK: 15 – 21 DECEMBER 2024

20/12/2024 Mayor Mel Allcott Comments 0 Comment

Carols, art and sporting Santa

Tuesday was the annual Worcester News carol service. Thank you to the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress for attending on my behalf. I was at the Policy and Resources Committee at the same time and fortunate in that it finished in time for me to catch some of the guests in the Mayor’s Parlour afterwards.

This annual event, for me, is a reminder of the importance of local journalism. It is easy to take for granted every day local news, whether a traditional paper version or online copy or news alerts. Without our local journalists and editors I believe our local world would be a very empty space.

We don’t live globally, or nationally, or online (not physically at least). We live locally, in our communities. Let’s celebrate our local communities and support our local journalists and editors.

On Thursday afternoon I viewed the Worcester Society of Artists Exhibition (WSA) at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum. There was a fantastic mix of styles and mediums. We clearly have some exceptionally talented artists in Worcester. After much deliberation I chose my favourite, Dark Flowers, by Marion Yeo (see below).

Thank you to the Chair of WSA, Chris Phillips, for taking me around the exhibition. It’s very worth a visit over the Christmas break and perfect for a break from all the traditional festivities (please check the festive opening times). Chairs are available to sit and ponder, and quite a few of the paintings are for sale.

On Thursday I was able to join Father Christmas, Mrs Christmas and Elf with volunteers from the Worcester Lions Club charity outside Perdiswell Leisure Centre. Although it’s a super-busy time, we were able to join in with the spin class and Father Christmas and Elf achieved some pretty impressive bounces on the trampoline!

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Mayor standing next to a painting of Dark Flowers — The Mayor with Marion Yeo’s painting, Dark Flowers

MAYOR’S WEEK: 8 – 14 DECEMBER

13/12/2024 Mayor Mel Allcott Comments 0 Comment

Christmas is on the way and on Saturday afternoon, consort Andy Lee and myself, celebrated all things Christmas with the Ukrainian community at Hope Church.

It is brilliant to see this once run down and empty building fully refurbished and in use.

The order of the event was to persuade St Nicholas to come out and visit the children in his stocking-filled grotto.

Snow and some very creative snowflakes were made and snowmen were built, with noses made of carrot of course. This was done with the help of some very eager children.

There was some entertaining dancing with a diva of a dinosaur and some beautiful Christas songs sung.

St Nicholas made his appearance and the more than enough stockings were given to some very excited children.

Seeing so many happy faces gave such a lift to our entire day.

On Wednesday evening the Elgar Chorale of Worcester performed the Mayoral Christmas Charity Concert.

Piers Maxim, a very talented Director of Music, alongside this stunning choir entertained with festive carols and readings.

I am proud to announce the turnout was the largest ever and I certainly recommend booking very early next year, to ensure you have a seat.

Mince pies, wine and juice was on offer for the adults and I found some oranges for two lovely grandchildren who attended with consort Stuart Wild, wife Liz and daughter-in-law Katie.

Consort Andy Lee sat with myself at the front and consort Mike Mullins sat in the middle with his wife Pam so all three consorts were in attendance, thank you consorts!

On Thursday morning I was able to meet new City Council staff as part of their induction.

I found it fascinating to meet staff from across many departments, including audit, housing, outdoor conservation, the crematorium, the museum and bin collection.

Mince pies were happily shared.