Mayor of Worcester

It’s been a quieter week, for which I was grateful as it allowed a little space to deal with a very sad family matter. However, it’s still been quite lively, starting with a Rotary lunch at the Cricket Club during which I was enrolled as an Honoury Member. Rotary do some remarkable work in Worcester and the Mayoress and I have attended a number of school events where Rotary members have committed considerable amounts of their time and resource to help children express themselves through speech and poetry. They quite often roll their sleeves up and really get stuck in on projects, an example being the creation of the children’s garden at Holly Mount School.

This year’s outdoor production of Shakespeare, A Comedy of Errors, took place in the garden of the Commandery. Unfortunately we managed to pick the only evening during the week when the weather wasn’t good. It drizzled and drizzled but it was still a very enjoyable evening; the casting was superb, the performance great and, even in the rain the ambiance was just so good. A production masterminded by Ben Humphrey and as always, with these outdoor performances, the audience just loved it. Put a date in the diary for next year, it’s a great evening out!

The annual service on St Swithun’s Day in St Swithun’s church, just off the Trinity, is an interesting event. The church is one of few that have a Mayor’s chair and above it, to the rear, is a rack to hold Worcester’s Sword of State. The chair is set at a forty five degree angle to the congregation leaving one with a rather exposed feeling – and it’s designed for a very tall person! The bells are now back in order and sounded very good, much to the pleasure of Stephen Inman, a former Mayor, who campaigned for the restoration of church bells across the City.

The Mayor’s Banquet was a great success, even if I do say so myself! The setting, in the Assembly Room on the top floor, is always excellent and this year the flowers, guests and food were all exceptional. The Deputy Mayor, Mike Whitehouse; Deputy Leader, Marc Bayliss and Ben Humphrey all gave great speeches. The evening was based on a Celebration of Worcester and Ben gave an extremely informative and entertaining talk on the history of Worcester; he had all those present in the palm of his hand. A really enjoyable evening!

Frankie Tsang, owner of Worcester’s Four Seasons restaurant, was one of 150 guests at the Mayor’s Banquet.

Both tourists and residents will now be able to learn more of Worcester’s past as Blue Plaques are appearing all over the City denoting sites where significant events have taken place – as well as the renewal of the plaques showing the location of the old City gates back in the times when Worcester was a walled city. Thanks to the Worcester Civic Society together with the Milestone Society, we have a bronze plaque to mark the position in Worcester of the original Old Cross – and the Civic Society has also unveiled the blue plaque in honour of John Williams (1773-1853) at Pitmaston House in Malvern Road, St John’s.

For cricket lovers there is now a plaque to mark the formation of Worcestershire County Cricket Club which occurred at Whitehouse Hotel 150 years ago, then named the Star Hotel, and is now on view to the general public to admire after being unveiled on the Foregate Street wall of the Whitehouse Hotel.

On the subject of visitors, we have had the pleasure of receiving well over a hundred foreign students at the Guildhall in just one week alone. They came from Germany, Italy and China and all, without exception, were a credit to both their teachers and countries alike. It was a pleasure to talk to them about Worcester and to show them around the Guildhall.

Worcester Vigornia Rotary Club celebrated their Presidential handover in great style with dinner on board a river boat, cruising up and down the Severn. It was a lovely evening, blessed with good weather and delightful company. I wish Victoria well in her year as President and every success in her fund raising efforts for worthy causes including Sight Concern, a nominated charity we both share.

Junior Youth Speaks at Hollymount School, organised by the Rotary Club of Worcester, gave us another impossible task of choosing winners! The problem is that these are impossible choices, in my mind they are all winners and show what incredible talent Worcester youth has to offer.

Similarly, RGS The Grange had their School Speech Day, again also exhibiting some remarkable talent and prizes for achievement were awarded across all six year groups. A former Head Girl at the school, Miss Ellie Ives, now a graduate of Oxford University, was the guest of honour and gave a brilliant speech – as did the current Head Girl, who was a pleasure to listen to!

A couple of weeks ago I mention that I attended the showcase production of Harlequin Dance prior to their trip to Romania where they were to compete in the World Dance Cup. I wrote, “Has Worcester got Talent?” Well it seems we most certainly have, and here’s the proof!

Eighty three children (aged 6 to 18 years old) from Harlequin Stage School represented our country in Team England at The Dance World Cup held in Romania last week and helped ENGLAND to be crowned overall CHAMPIONS. Paula Dymock, Principal of the School, was overwhelmed by their performance – and on top of the world with the superb results!

The Team won 15 Gold, nine Silver and nine Bronze as they competed against performers from 44 other countries! Harlequin also won the prize for the most outstanding classical group “The Orchestra” and Felicity Gibbons, aged 9, was named the most outstanding performer in the World Cup mini performance category. Well done and congratulations Felicity!! I am sure that when The National Anthem was sung, the whole team must have been bursting with pride.

Their trip to Romania proved to be the journey of a lifetime. Well done, you are all a great credit to Worcester and indeed our Country.

Also showing great talent were the children performing at RGS The Grange years three and four end of term concert. They were a delight to watch and performed beautifully, a great credit to the school!

I attended a special event to mark the one hundredth anniversary of Fort Royal Park on Monday 29 June. The celebrations included cutting a specially designed and beautiful cake, a performance by Stanley Road Primary School pupils and an informal outdoor service of evensong. The Friends of Fort Royal Park organised the event very well and it proved to be a very pleasant evening, made even better by the lovely setting and being blessed with good weather.

A delegation of government officials and business leaders from Hezhou in China visited Worcester last week when we welcomed them to the Guildhall for the signing of the Sister City Agreement. My thanks go out to the Worcestershire Ambassadors, to Mr Frankie Tsang, The Chamber of Trade and Council Officers who all worked to make the visit such a success.

Armed Forces week started with the raising of the flag over the Guildhall and culminated in a magnificent parade through town on Saturday 27th June. The turnout for the march past was terrific and there were hundreds, if not thousands of people flanking the streets to see the Queens Royal Hussars parading past as they celebrated the Regimental Freedom of our City.

One Sergeant Major said that as he marched around a corner and saw the masses of people either side of the road, clapping and cheering as the Hussars approached, his feelings whelmed up and he felt a lump in his throat. This puts in perspective the value of us turning out to recognise their work, on our behalf, and to cheer them on!

Five members of the England Women’s Cricket Team took time out to visit Worcestershire Cricket Club and, together with Club Staff, thoroughly entertained 90 children from Cherry Orchard Primary School. I spoke to a lot of the children and, without exception, they thought the day was a great success. There were competitions, quizzes and of course cricket on the beautiful grounds of our famous cricket pitch – the prettiest in England!!

Tuesday saw the GB v Germany Woman Basketball International staged at the Arena. I hadn’t realised just what a fast moving and exciting game this sport offered, it really was a great evening even if we did lose – but only just – it was close!

Later this summer, our city will welcome the continent’s leading wheelchair basketball nations to the European Championships, where they will join the Great Britain teams in competing for both the prestigious title and a highly coveted qualification spot at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

Held from 28^th August to the 6 September at the University of Worcester Arena, this is a fantastic opportunity to see this fast-paced family sport, up close to the action. More information, including tickets, can be found at www.euro2015.uk or through the British Wheelchair Basketball Office on 01509 279900 / office@britishwheelchairbasketball.co.uk

Lastly still on a sporting note, the T20 Worcester Rapids V Northamptonshire Steelbacks played at New Road in beautiful weather conditions. They ran to the wire and we lost by just two runs!!!