Mayor of Worcester

While you read last week’s blog I was waking up after an exhilarating and humbling day in Belgium. Along with around 20 Worcestershire people, including the Ambassadors and Regimental veterans, we finally unveiled a new memorial to the Worcestershire Regiment in the First World War. We had a guard of serving soldiers from 1 Mercian, standards, pipes and bugles, and local aldermen from Zonnebeke including Burgemeester (Mayor) Ingrid Vandepitte.

The memorial is in the village of Gheluveld (ask me later how really to pronounce it!), the scene of the famous defence by the Worcesters in October 1914.

The same evening three of us were honoured to lay wreaths at the Last Post ceremony held daily since 1922 in the Menin Gate, Iper. Lt. Col Mark Jackson laid one, and read the exhortation ‘They shall grow not old…’, while the other wreathbearer was Russ Walker, whose great grandfather actually fought in the battle.

The rest of the weekend was spent looking round cemeteries, museums and a brewery. Well, it is Belgium!

I was at the Worcester 6 business park for the launch of a new HQ for ZwickRoell, a German machines-testing company, where the owner recounted that he had a pilot’s licence. His father had also been a pilot. In the last war. It’s amazing and poignant that we have come so far in just two generations.

I teamed up with the Ambassadors again for a Question Time session on the current state of Worcestershire. We covered cost of living, mental health, foodbanks, and quality of life, all intrinsic elements to a healthy business economy.

Lastly, the Declaration of the new High Sheriff, Louise Hewett at Worcester’s Shirehall. This is an annual appointment. Interestingly the role is not only High Sheriff of the county, but also of the City and County of Worcester.

I must be the most prolific Mayor on the ukulele – Syrian earthquake appeal this week. Thanks to the generosity of passers-by. We met old friends and workmates celebrating Laurie Gregory’s life, a vivacious and warm-hearted man committed to many causes in West Malvern who led Children’s Social Services across the county for many years.

Thanks to Worcester Concert Brass for their great range of tunes across the centuries. I am looking forward to their performance at the Elgar Festival in June. Which brings me to the master’s Dream of Gerontius, wonderfully performed in the Cathedral.

It’s a real pleasure to be part of so much different music making and performance in the City. Music was on the first day of the Competitive Arts Festival, but my visit was for poetry, prose and theatre. Claines Primary drama group who rehearse in their own time are an example of the array of talent amongst our young people.

Youth was the focus too with Young Enterprise Awards where school students displayed talents of business acumen, organisation, ideas, branding and appeal. And made some cash on the High Street.

I was also pleased to drop in to Vesta Tilley Youth Service at Sugar Daddies Café as part of the launch of a new facility for teenagers.

The exhibition of British Impressionism at the Art Gallery on the Tything is well worth the trip, linking St Ives and Cornwall with Malvern in the 19th and 20th centuries. And at the other end of town, the lunch for volunteers at the Museum of Royal Worcester was a delight. A chance to look at the collections and thank Sir Michael Perry for his work leading the Trustees over recent years.

And just time to say hi to a great new business network, Buzz, before shooting off to Belgium.

It’s been an international week. Students from Worcester in Massachusetts, and Japan have visited the Parlour and been impressed with the Guildhall, a heritage site at the centre of our democracy, and also a working building. And in stormy conditions we raised the Commonwealth Flag and spoke on the Guildhall steps of the importance of those trans-national links.

In one day I went from a small parish church to a huge cavernous abbey without really straying in time, either from their foundation and build, or modern time. First a small, friendly civic service at St Peter’s Droitwich, home of the Winslow Boy, and his brothers, who sailed on the Mayflower. Fascinating not least because we have their baptism registers in The Hive. Then Tewkesbury Abbey, a splendid creation, built for thousands of pilgrims and now, with shrinking worshippers, even more grand and impressive to look at. Well worth a visit to the edge of our county, once in the Worcester Diocese.

We hosted a thank-you event for volunteers who come from all sorts of organisations, including my chosen charities, OnSide and Severn Arts. I have written before about the impressive network of community volunteers, including parents and carers, who keep our city going. From the Mela to the Battle of Worcester; from care and health to litter picks and the Swan Sanctuary. Park runs, carnival, allotments, museums, police cadets – all adding life and value.

Some are thriving, others in need of support. Volunteering can be helping others, but also about helping yourself and is enriching, healthy and fun.

Finally, huge thanks to the generosity of former players at the Worcester RFC. We had a great lunch, met old friends, had an occasionally funny speech, were urged to test for prostate cancer, and raised a lot of cash for my Mayoral Charities. Cheers!

Chrissie’s Rocks. What a great night, lots of enthusiasm, great performances, some very good performances, a tight, live band and a support team including teachers, parents and ex-pupils. A real community school show of We Will Rock You at Christopher Whitehead Language School. And what a way to give younger people experience of some of the great music of their parents and grandparents, as well as the exciting technological developments, like the VHS video.

A wide range of people from across the county gathered in the Guildhall to wish the Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire, Patrick Holcroft, well in his retirement. Recognised as a committed worker and supporter of local causes over the decade, his last year has been particularly busy. Another interested Custos Rotulorum, in my experience.

As Chair of The Arches – Worcester project I was pleased to welcome delegates from all over the country to the Guildhall to mark the programmes funded by the Cultural Development Fund, which in Worcester has meant renovating the railway arches, producing the Light Night and other festivals, and much more. It was great to have that national recognition for the city after local people have turned out in their thousands to really get involved in the project.

It’s the season for civic services and this week it was my actual employer, the Chair of Worcestershire County Council, who organised a service full of references to rural issues and the natural environment.

I visited G-El Green Lighting recently, a city company working on energy saving in the domestic setting, nestled in an industrial estate in my own ward. They don’t need me to boost their sales though, since Princess Anne was also there.

Finally, one of my charities, Onside Advocacy, put on a superb Greek pop-up café at The Mix in St. Paul’s Street – it was fun and filling.

Signing off now, H60B for yesterday.