Mayor of Worcester

Being Worcester Mayor is not just about Worcester. It is about promoting the city for visitors, including through the International Students Team at the University. It’s also about supporting other local civic events and their charities and the valuable work they do.

Two examples this week – firstly, we went to the Ledbury Civic Service, where the mayor is supporting Strong Young Minds, a project for mental health amongst young people. Secondly we attended a charity dinner with Redditch mayor. The meal was all prepared and cooked by young students at HoW College, and in support of Touchstones, a local charity offering bereavement counselling to young people.

My own Charities On Side and Severn Arts received a boost this week from a concert given by the fabulous Elgar Chorale. Readings and carols went down well with a mince pie, and they even gave us an encore!

I was invited to honour individual work in the voluntary and community sector at the presentation of two British Empire Medals by the Lord Lieutenant. One for setting up an enterprise for people with learning disabilities, and the other for nursing innovation with kidney patients.

Other sorts of business and development have also been on show this week, including the transformation of the old Fire Station building into apartments. Then, wandering around the Victorian Fayre, both traders and visitors said how wonderful it was to be back in such a friendly place and numbers were certainly high over last weekend. Supporting Small Businesses, we visited several new and independent retailers making their mark on Worcester, from bread to chilli, bubble tea to botox.

And most inspiringly, the talent and enthusiasm at the Young Enterprise Trade event at the Cathedral where school students plied us with their ideas and products. Times are tough right now but there is some hope in their future.

 

Well, it’s here again. For the thirtieth year, Worcester’s fantastic Victorian Christmas Fayre is back. And yes, I still feel pleased at being part of the decisions back then to have a go at a huge public festive event, and I am of that part that thinks bringing 100,000 people and millions of pounds into the local economy over one weekend is a good thing.

Only a week ago I was “turning on” the city lights as Santa’s little helper. This week, the fayre. It’s beginning to feel a lot like…

Thirty years is a long time but you have to plan for the future. That’s exactly what we were doing on Brickfields Park where with the help of children from Tudor Grange, members of the Afro-Caribbean Society, Worcester Community Trust and funded by Ward councillors, we planted a range of trees as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy to improve our environment.

In another event planning for the future of our young people, we supported the Army Cadets Association and particularly the instructors and leaders who encourage youngsters to challenge themselves and their environment. And I was also really pleased to give out awards to teaching assistants in local schools at an event sponsored by my own trade union, UNISON. TAs are as much supported by their teachers as supporting them in the classroom these days and it was great to demonstrate that recognition.

As mayor you sit as a trustee for the year of the Royal Worcester Porcelain Museum and it was really interesting to see the workings of such a fascinating and popular local independent museum steeped in Worcester’s social, artistic and industrial history. Some modern art was on show at the Artery Gallery, one of the Arches that are rapidly becoming part of the wider city arts milieu and a key part of the opening up of the railway arches walk from Foregate Street Station to the riverside.

Finally, in keeping with the Season, Full Council was a mix of pathos and pantomime. And loud car horns. Catch it on youtube while you still can!

 

This week I have been back to pre-history and in a short hop across the river, seen the future! (By the way, it really IS quicker to walk at the moment.)

The ambition of Worcester University is undimmed by Covid or plateauing student numbers. The teaching techniques I saw on my first visit for several years are amazing. The Art House is a great resource for all of us. And the new Health and Wellbeing Centre is on track to bring medical students to the city with all the economic, social and health benefits that will bring.

In another iconic gold building I kicked off a very successful Archaeology Day, looking at our county’s historic foundations. If you don’t understand your history, you cannot transform the future.

The relevance of the comparatively recent past was recalled at the British Legion service marking Commonwealth and other war graves at Astwood Cemetery, including German, Czech and Polish servicemen.

And another group of service men and women were honoured at an awards ceremony for the Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. As well as long service and good conduct, a number of incidents of real quick thinking and bravery were commended.

In the rain, the partnership between those public services, the private sector, BID and just the rest of us, culminated in Worcester being awarded the Purple Flag, recognising a safe and vibrant night-time economy, attracting visitors and securing investment.

My thanks to Worcester Rotary for their invitation to speak at a lunch which made me sit and think over the last six months. The variety of the city was shown off in just one week –  and (I almost forgot) – on Children in Need Day I was in the Crowngate and danced with the Ukelele Band. Again.

During this week’s Guildhall tour for 6th Worcester Brownies one of many questions was: “what do you like most about being Mayor?” The answer is a week like this! Talking about the Guildhall with interested and excitable youngsters, opening a pub, accepting a letter from the Inter-Faith Forum about climate change, welcoming Ukrainians to a business workshop, and several Remembrance events. Such variety.

It is an honour and privilege, as Mayor, to lay a wreath in memory of the servicemen and women, and their families and communities, who died in the Great War – as we did at 11am on the 11th of the 11th and at the grave of Woodbine Willie – and those victims of the 1939-45 and subsequent wars. The public crowds demonstrated their support and feeling on Sunday morning in what is a particularly poignant time, with war yet again on mainland Europe.

That sombre thought was with me at the start of workshops being run to assist Ukrainians seeking to start or develop their businesses, having been forced out of their own country and now settling in Worcester.  This was one of the practical developments of our welcoming event during the summer.

The visit from Brownies from my own ward was inspiring as much for me as hopefully for them! There were questions about being Mayor, how heavy is the chain, about politics, about climate, and one of the most insightful, what can young girls do for their community? I think my answer was stand up, don’t be afraid to say what you want, lead by example whether that is taking litter home, or planting trees for the environment, get involved – hopefully a relevant message for any young person in these challenging times.

By the way, the pub was the White Hart in Fernhill Heath.