My biggest challenge as Mayor?  Striking the balance between duty and home life.  This week, duty won…

It began with a tour of Fort Royal Community Primary School, a venture that set out to provide facilities for 150 children with special needs, has since expanded to 200 and still needs more space.  Some important heads need to be brought together to come up with a workable solution for this amazing establishment now facing special needs of its own.

I then had a most delightful afternoon at High Sheriff Edward Holloway’s Lower Court home at Suckley, for a private view of the works of local artists in aid of the Worcestershire Community Foundation.  It left me saddened that the mayor’s allowance doesn’t stretch to acquiring some of these incredible artworks!

Religious differences – or to be more accurate, similarities – were put aside for Bishop John Inge’s charming ‘At Home’ gathering at The Old Palace on Friday, and being first to arrive meant our chat was more personal and meaningful as a result.

I’ve said it before and it’s worth a repeat – that the sheer musical and dramatic talent of the youngsters of our city knows no bounds, as a sneak preview of WODYS’ up-coming treat ‘Shrek – The Musical’ underlined in breathless style.  Oh… most impressed!

Home life was temporarily restored in a rare day-in on Sunday, thus permitting a welcome recharge of the batteries ahead of another engagement-packed week…

How best to engage more with the city’s Polish and Eastern European communities occupied much of Monday, in the company of Tomas Jareki and Warwick Neale.

The rest of the week’s functions and appointments whizzed by: preparations for my Charity Banquet in May; opening an intensely moving art exhibition at The Hive; a look at a mobile shelter – technically, a gazebo – for the comfort of mourners at the Crematorium; and a re-appraisal of the recent Interfaith Forum Holocaust Memorial Day event were followed by a duty I never tire of: showing excited youngsters, in this case 30 cubs from the 2nd Worcester Scout Group, around the Guildhall and cells.  Whew… quite a week!