Mayor of Worcester

The Mayor of Bewdley, Cllr. Mrs Calne Edginton-White, arranged an event to raise funds for her charities and it took place on a steam train! We met at Kidderminster’s Severn Valley Heritage Railway Station, boarded a lovely old train and made steam to Bridgnorth. We passed through a number of stations: Bewdley, Arley, Highley, and Hampton Loade – before terminating at Bridgnorth.

We were very lucky with the weather and, to be honest, I had forgotten just how pretty a route the line takes. We had a brief view of West Midlands Safari Park and spotted a Rhinoceros having a bath – and were treated to scones and tea as we went past.

The railway stations on route are all maintained to a very high standard and the event brought back memories of my childhood with the sound, smell and impressive presence of those powerful steam locomotives. The Heritage Railway is one of the many attractions we are blessed with in this part of the country; sometimes we just take them for granted and fail to properly enjoy them. It’s a great ride through beautiful countryside – and at this time of year there is the added benefit of the splendid autumn coloured leaves on the trees!

The sixth of eight plaques, marking the location of the medieval gates of Worcester when it was a walled city, was unveiled on the corner of Union Street and City Walls Road. These plaques will form a trail around Worcester and each plaque has an illustration of how each gate would have looked. The project cost of this work is around £5,500 and John Eden and his family have been very generous in funding a number of these. We have some incredible history, but often fail to broadcast it – so hopefully these plaques will support our ambition to be recognised as a “Heritage City”.

St Peter’s experienced a tragedy in this past week, when a magnificent circa 400 year old Oak Tree partially collapsed. A limb came crashing to the ground and fortunately no one was injured. I say tragedy, because it was one of the finest examples of an oak in St Peter’s -if not in the City. It was found to be completely rotten through the core of the trunk, and therefore the remaining part of the tree needed to be felled. Every effort is now being made to plant an appropriate sized tree to eventually replace this iconic specimen. Residents, County Councillor Marc Bayliss, the City Council and Parish are all working together to achieve this.

Acorn’s hospice’s charity lunch at the rugby club was a great occasion. Not only was the food and company very enjoyable, but those present were entertained, after the meal, by Lady Atherton. Dressed and acting as a war time WI lady, Lady Atherton gave a talk on measures to be undertaken to ease both the burden of war, which was creating major shortages, as well as suggestions to support the war effort. She was very entertaining and gave an insight into the severity of living conditions at that time.

The lunch was a mix of two extremes, the poverty and restrictions of the 1940s and the generosity of those present helping to support such a worthy cause.

Each year a Shrievalty Evensong Service is held in the Cathedral, an event led by the High Sherriff of Worcestershire. The Lord Lieutenant represented the Queen, the Court Judges were present in full regalia and the Dean and Bishop looked equally splendid. Sir Antony Winnington, The High Sherriff (an office over 1,000 years old and the oldest continuous secular office of the Crown), read St. Paul’s Letter to the Colossians and I have to say he has my admiration. Some of the names within the text were the most unpronounceable I’ve come across and he didn’t hesitate or make a single mistake. Well done Sir Antony!

Little treats come up occasionally and we experienced a rather nice one when Bürgermeister Theo Brauer, the Mayor of our Twin City of Kleve in Germany, invited the Mayoress and me to his retirement celebration. Theo always visits Worcester during our Christmas Fayre and has treasured the links to Worcester over the years. He has been Mayor of Kleve for 11 years and has achieved much; he has a very strong following which was reflected by the 600 people that attended his farewell reception. It was an astonishing number and many of them spoke highly of his leadership and achievements.

Kleve supports the idea of twinning in a much stronger way than we have done. They have a bench with the Worcester coat of arms outside their court, they have named a bridge “Worcester Brϋcke”, a sign reading “Worcesterplatz”, a marble column with our crest and script as well as a red post box and a red BT telephone box. The hospitality we experienced was superb and really matched their love of being twinned with us. Kleve is a great town with lovely welcoming people.

Summer Reading Challenge awards were given out at St John’s Library, where over 100 children received medals and certificates for their achievements over the summer period. They were all so keen to talk about the books they have read – and even more keen to receive their awards! I congratulate the staff and volunteers for bringing this concept together and for encouraging our youngsters to read more and to appreciate the learning, enjoyment and value that can be gained from books. Seeding for a greater future!

“Beat Street The Show”, at the Swan Theatre was a brilliant. This event came from the members and activities of the Monday Night Club, who meet at the Barbourne Ex-Services Club in The Moors. The stars of the show for me were Helen who was the Producer and the founder of the club, and Helen’s daughter Laura, who herself has learning disabilities and autism. The Club was founded in 2011 for people with similar disabilities and has some 140 attendees; between them all they brought together a show which was truly great. All those involved put on a great performance, but perhaps more importantly, they all thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Well done Helen and Laura, I greatly admire the work you are doing.

The University of Worcester hosted the opening of the Lemniscaat Worldwide Picture Book Illustration Competition exhibition at The Hive on Wednesday 14 October.  Lemniscaat, one of the oldest and most well-known children’s book publishers in Holland, took the initiative to begin a picture book illustration competition in the UK, The Netherlands and Belgium in 2014. This proved to be a great success. More than 750 young illustrators entered their work and a jury choose twelve winners.

It was particularly good to see Lauren Susman receive her award, as she is a University of Worcester student.

The Hive has achieved national recognition through many awards: there have been over 40 nominations to date. The Hive is a powerful statement of belief in learning and inclusion through social innovation, and has proved itself a successful pioneering venture. 26,775 additional people now belong to the library, including more than 6,000 extra children, since its opening in 2012.

Teenagers and young people (excluding University students) borrowed 572% more than in the final year of Worcester Library.  From 2 July 2012 to the end of May 2015 the average number of issues per year by non-University of Worcester adults was 538,129 – an increase of 96.4% over the equivalent figure of 2011/12 at Worcester Library.

There was an Over 50s Event at the Guildhall on Wednesday 7^th October, and it was rather a shame that it was so poorly attended. There were stalls covering a great variety of aids: health advice, household alarms, U3A, advice on sight and hearing, and a multitude of other useful bits of information. All good stuff, and really helpful at any age! All the staff on duty were well informed, eager to assist and offered very sound advice. So if you see another event signed up as an “Over 50’s Event”, pop in a take a look even if you are under fifty – it’s worth it!!

Last week three members of the Council Team celebrated their 25^th anniversary – 75 years of Council service between them!

There was Frank Southam our Sword Bearer; I’m sure you have all seen Frank at one time or another as he has led every procession along the High Street followed by the Mace Bearers, whenever there is something special happening. Most people would have seen Frank as he leads the procession to open the Christmas Fayre. He’s a great character and a reliable aid to each Mayor in turn. Frank is our expert on protocol and has guided the last 25 Worcester mayors in their civic duties.

Diane Thomas also celebrated 25 years’ service, and she is second to none. Without Di you wouldn’t have a vote, as she is our Electoral Services Officer. Di works tirelessly to ensure the register of electors is always up to date and correct in every detail – and on top of that, she has a great sense of humour!

Last, but by no means least, was Georgina Colley, our Legal Executive for the City’s Legal Team. Georgina also has a great sense of humour, but one never needs to question her accuracy – she is always on top of her game and deadly accurate! Apart from her keen sense of duty, she always has time for people and I’ve never known her to be too busy to help.

I am indebted to each of these three lovely people; thank you for all your help and support over the years, you have been a blessing.

Fort Royal Community Primary School opened their new outdoor play facility on Friday with weather that couldn’t have been better – bright, warm sunshine. The school is a great place, offering the highest level of care and education by a very committed team who “go the extra mile” to provide the best they can every day. Seeing the work that goes on in facilities such as this is both humbling, and a joy at the same time!