Mayor of Worcester

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!

We were privileged to be invited to St Richards Hospice last week and whilst we knew about their work and, by reputation, the quality of care offered, my wife and I were very impressed with the design of the building, the commitment and professionalism of the staff and the very high quality of care provided. St Richards must rate amongst the best in the country, and is a credit to Worcester.

Apart from the medical care, the attention given to create a homely and less hospital-like design and feel must help both those staying there and friends and families visiting. It is a superb example of care, fully orientated to patient and family needs. The lounges are comfortable and engaging projects and artworks are undertaken, in fact all the artworks featured on the walls have been produced by patients or patient groups. The gardens and small lake are beautiful, enjoyed by residents, staff and wildlife alike and are a real asset, providing a lovely peaceful green back drop.

During the year 2014/15 there were 1,526 Family Support Service referrals, a Family Support Caseload of 441 and Family Support Contacts of 6,268. Volunteer support amounted to 1,670 hours and ranged from sitting, companionship, shopping and housework, right through to gardening and dog walking. Eighteen student placements were supported, 303 inpatient admissions, 489 Hospice at Home Patients and 1,740 Hospice at Home Sits. Total contacts for the year amounted to 22,763.

An astonishing record of care and compassion; we are very lucky to have them here in Worcester. To find out more, go to:  http://www.strichards.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/PatientServices2015v5.pdf

The Six Towns Credit Union opened in “The Old Glove Factory” at 13a Lowesmoor, Worcester, WR1 2RS. They are open Monday to Friday from 10am – 4pm (closed between 1pm-2pm). The organisation offers to help anyone wishing to open a bank account with them, or wishing to set up an account and ring fence the rent or other bills. This is a service designed to be of help to those in real financial need here in Worcester.

I should make it clear that this week hasn’t all been hard work! We did spend a morning visiting the Morgan car factory, and I did rather lust over a few models on show!!

To end, we had a delightful session over on the Diglis Fields sowing wild flower seeds and spent a charming evening in St Oswald’s Chapel being entertained by The Astaria String Quartet. Life is not too bad!!

Worcestershire Lifestyles had their AGM on the 24th September; the event was very well attended by lots of people who have benefited from the work of this charity. Not only do they recycle old computers, some to use again and others reduced to their component parts, but the group also provides training and schooling in a number of skills and participants are able to gain recognised qualifications. The members have mental or physical handicaps – some quite serious – but Lifestyles gives them a sense of purpose and value, as well as restoring the disciplines common to a working life. Like other charitable organisations in Worcester, they do a great job – which is sometimes undervalued and unrecognised.

The big event of the week was the “Jail ‘n Bail” fund raiser on Saturday 26^th September.

This involved participants being mock ‘arrested’ for a fun ‘crime’, handcuffed by West Mercia Police, fingerprinted and placed in a jail cell outside the Guildhall for a few hours!  This was an unusual and theatrical experience, with a dramatic walk through the city in convict costume, ball and chain.  A judge reminded passersby of their ‘heinous’ crimes and the Worcester Severn were to be released when their collective bail money had been raised!  Bail was set at £500 per prisoner, with an overall goal of raising £4,000.

The following characters were charged:

The Mayor of Worcester, Councillor Roger Knight –

Crime: ‘pawning the Mayoral Chain for an ice cream’

Ben Humphry from Worcester Rep – Impersonation of a pantomime dame

Anja Potze Fine Jewellery Ltd – trying to out ‘BLING’ the Mayor

Thomas Evans from Thursfields – Handling salmon in suspicious circumstances

Richard Shelton from Shelton & Lines – Trying to sell a Lego house

Katie Love – too much tapping

Vance Parsons of DH Recruitment  – ‘murdering karaoke songs’

 

It was an incredibly successful event, raising in excess of £4,700 for the three charities Sight Concern, Acorns Children’s Hospice and Daisychain Benevolent Fund, which will share the monies raised equally.

My thanks also goes out to all those that made this day possible including all the street collectors, Rob Leetham, who made a great compere; Ray Needham, the savage Judge Dredd; P.Cs. James Potter and Ian Ruff and PC Peeler the Police Dog Mascot – not forgetting my P.A. Gill Preece who was brilliant, and is always so solidly behind all these events.

he star of the show was Fiona Blake of Sight Concern. Thank you Fiona, you were great – and apologies to everyone for disrupting their Saturday shopping experience!