I am now two thirds of the way through my mayoral year and hoping that before my period in office is finished, I will have chance to meet more of you and hear about your lives and interests.  So many of you in Worcester have shown extraordinary courage and kindness during the time since we went into our first lockdown ten months ago.  There have been so many stories of people helping each other and putting their own health and wellbeing at risk to do so.  To each one of you I want to say a personal thank you for your sacrifices and kindness; we all owe you a huge debt of gratitude.

Work at the City Council continues as usual; I have attended a number of Zoom meetings in the last few days.  Who would have thought that we would be running our lives like this 12 months ago?  Just a word to all the mums and dads who are home schooling.  I know how hard it is to inspire young people to want to learn and keep them interested.   Teachers go through three or four years of training to do it, and suddenly parents are expected to take over the reins as well as do their own work and run a home.  It is difficult and you deserve our praise and thanks for all your efforts in doing this.

I hope you will have seen in the Worcester News that my first vaccination went very smoothly; I am pleased to say that I had no after effects.  I feel that I am on the way to having the best protection I can from COVID and would urge everyone to take up the jab when it is offered.  This week we passed a terrible milestone of 100,000 deaths in this country from COVID, and the only way out is through the vaccine.  I try to keep positive by planning holidays for the future.   It’s good fun because I haven’t set myself any limits.   It certainly helps to pass a wet and cold afternoon in lockdown!