Mayor of Worcester

If last week was busy, then this week notched up a few degrees in intensity.

As it is Worcestershire’s year to host the Three Counties Show I was honoured to be asked to reply to the Lord Lieutenant at the event, talking about the great relationship the city and county have with the show and the fact that it has grown from strength to strength. Long live both the farming industry and the Show!

The OVO Women’s Tour showed that Worcester does large scale events well.  Great organisation and ingenuity ensured a smooth finish to the race, giving the City great international coverage.  It was fantastic to see the City looking clean & immaculate.  Thank you to all the residents who came along, volunteers and officers for a brilliant event.

I was also invited to the Prescott Bike Festival at the kind invitation of the Severn Free Wheelers.  This group generously organises the Blood Bikes, which go up and down the motorway delivering vital blood supplies to hospitals. They do such a selfless voluntary service and are saving literally hundreds of lives as a result. I will be inviting them to Worcester soon.

On to the Ring Festival at the Weorgorian Pavilion, which is organised by the Canals & River Trust.  What a brilliant way to celebrate diversity and culture! I was enthralled to be part of the RSVP Bhangra group session. I learning the history behind Bhangra moves and of course got stuck into the dancing!

It was an enjoyable event which got most of the crowd involved dancing together, regardless of age, sex or cultural background. Truly the manifestation of my theme of Love not hate on display!

Stay safe and most of all, smile and make someone’s day!

The week started with a blessing at the Cathedral, which celebrates the 800th year of its rededication.  The Great West Window is fully restored, and is truly an inspiration and wonder to behold.

A quick mention for the Worcester Food Festival, and the fantastic showcase which it has become.  It brought the city centre to life and was a huge success; roll on a bigger and even better one next year.

I also managed a visit to the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Business awards, which showcased the best of the two counties’ business talent. It’s inspiring to see that that we are particularly strong in the tech sector in this County, and that we certainly are not lacking entrepreneurial talent.  The future is bright. Well done to all the winners and of course the Chamber for hosting such a fantastic event at the Worcester University Arena.

It was a privilege to officially open the Worcester Lit Fest and to hand out prizes in the Young Writers Category.  This is a festival that has become a firm favourite of mine; the quest to find a new Poet Laureate can get extremely competitive! Get involved if you can.

Finally I was invited by Worcestershire Interfaith Forum to attend an Iftar and to celebrate the near ending of Ramadan. It was great to see so many faith communities coming to together in mutual respect and support of each other, celebrating the diversity we have in the city. Eid Mubarak to those celebrating and remember to love, not hate!  A smile to a stranger or an unselfish act of kindness or chivalry will set in motion a wonderful day.  Peace and love to you all!​

It’s been another non-stop action week, with a particular highlight being a visit to The Commandery for Oak Apple Day, the traditional spring event that commemorates the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. I was entertained thoroughly by a Horrible Histories-type performance by Worcester Live Actors who gave a brilliant rendition of the Civil War story suitable for all ages. There were a feast of activities for children and a chance to see the beautifully renovated Presidents’ Room, honouring the visit to Worcester of US presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams.

It was a privilege to be able to host the English Symphony Orchestra as part of the Elgar Festival. They gave a mesmerising performance in the glorious Guildhall, a fitting venue to celebrate Worcester’s most favourite son on what is now officially known as Elgar Day.

I am always heartened to see the limitless generosity and community spirit that exists within our city and this was exemplified when I was asked to officially open the Royal Mail Memorial Garden at the sorting office in Wainwright Road. This is a remarkable project conceived and brought to life through the generosity and hard work of the staff, their families and the management at Royal Mail who went out of their way to create a special place to reflect, ponder and shed a tear or two in memory of the wonderful staff that have given the residents of Worcester over 1,000 years of service between them. They may be gone but they will never be forgotten.

As always I sign off with the message of peace not war – I firmly believe that a stronger more prosperous Worcester City is possible through love, not hate.

A sombre study visit to Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina brought home to me the realities of war, ethnic cleansing and genocide. During the trip, organised by the charity Remembering Srebrenica, I heard how communities seemingly at peace with each other turned in 1995 to commit the most heinous of crimes whilst the world watched. At Srebrenica, over 8,000 Muslim men and boys were brutally murdered in the biggest genocide in Europe since the Holocaust. The hate-fuelled messages and anger peddled before the genocide, is a stark reminder of what continuous exposure to a divisive narrative can lead to.

On my return I attended an awards celebration at the Worcester Arena for the fabulous contribution University students had made to the city through volunteering. I thanked the students for making Worcester such a wonderful place to live in and left them with a reminder that the law of giving is as true as the law of gravity – the more you give, the more you will get back!

It was a pleasure attended the launch of A Mile In My Shoes, a unique arts project in Cathedral Square. It’s basically a giant shoebox in which you literally try on other people’s shoes on and listen to their life story. It gives us the opportunity to learn, understand and appreciate someone else’s point of view. The shoe box is there for until Sunday and it’s free, so please go to see it and broaden your horizons.

That leads me nicely onto my core message of the week, making sure we take the time to understand each other, to accept our differences, to celebrate other people’s successes as much as our own, and to learn to Love not Hate in order to create a flourishing, beautiful and peaceful city.