Mayor of Worcester

This has been a Zoom week for me.   Who would have thought that a piece of software that very few people had heard of in January would be so relied on nowadays to maintain our connections with work, business and friends?

I started out on Monday with a Zoom meeting with the Trustees of the Museum of Royal Worcester.  I am pleased to report that the museum is in excellent hands and this legacy of Worcester’s china making past is open and welcoming visitors; so do pay the Museum a visit and view its amazing collection.

On Wednesday I zoomed with Joe Petty – Mayor of Worcester Massachusetts.  I am pleased to say that it was very positive discussion about the 300th anniversary of the founding of their city, which falls in 2022.  Worcester USA is of course one of our twin towns.  We agreed that we are both Mayors of wonderful cities; we plan to encourage as many organisations as we can to come together to celebrate this anniversary.

As Mayor I am also President of Worcester Twinning Association, so will be talking further to Mayor Petty in the New Year to progress these plans.  If you are a member of an organisation which would like to link up with a similar one in Worcester USA, please let our local Twinning Association know.  You can email them at info@worcestertwinning.org.uk

My other 3 Zooms this week have been with family and friends.  It is an excellent way to keep in touch.

Finally, I cannot finish without saying what a momentous step has been taken with the government’s approval of a coronavirus vaccine which can be rolled out to the most vulnerable from next week.  A huge thanks to the scientists who have developed the vaccine and to the NHS staff who will now deliver it.  We have lived under the threat of coronavirus for nearly a year, but now an end is in sight.  Remember to stay safe, keep to the rules and all will be well.

I hope everyone managed to carry out their own act of Remembrance last Sunday in spite of the restrictions we find ourselves under.  Dave and I stood in our garden and observed the two minutes silence and watched the Cathedral Service on Facebook.  The whole service had been recorded before we went into lockdown, so there was no breaking of the rules.  I would like to thank the Cathedral and Michael Brierley especially for putting together the service and enabling us all to remember our brave men and women from the Army, Navy and Air Force – and other services whose sacrifices have enabled us to live the lives we do today.

Dave, Rob and I took a wreath to St. John’s cemetery on Sunday afternoon and laid it on the grave of the Rev. Studdert Kennedy, fondly remembered as “Woodbine Willie”.  He was a WW1 Chaplain who whilst delivering bibles to the troops in the trenches, never forgot that they also needed more worldly things like cigarettes to help them get through the horrors of the fighting.

On Armistice Day I stood in the Guildhall forecourt with Rob, my mayoral officer, Gareth from the Guildhall team and Dave, my consort.  We observed the two minutes silence for the fallen.  Rob spoke the famous words from Laurence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen”.  We will Remember Them.

It never fails to amaze me how resilient people are and how they can carry on even when life is made so difficult.  Dave and I had cause to visit the hospital in Worcester this week.  Nothing serious and so we were very minor patients – but I would like to give praise and thanks to the doctors, nurses and many others working in the hospital.

They made us feel that the NHS is carrying on regardless of the fact that people are dying and the numbers entering hospital with serious conditions are larger than even a bad winter brings.  My thanks and gratitude to all our health professionals and care workers for looking after us in times of ill health and stress – please remember to look after yourselves too.  Stay safe.

 

 

Here we are in lockdown again.  After enjoying relative freedoms during the summer and early autumn we are once again being asked to restrict our activities and stay indoors, with the exception of certain exemptions.  I expect you, like me, are feeling that it is harder this time round but we must follow this advice if we are to get a hold of the virus and stop it running wild and overwhelming our hospitals and NHS.

Like you, I am disappointed and very sad that the Act of Remembrance on Sunday must be done in our own homes or gardens or on our doorstep, and not as a collective act with parades and wreath laying.  I have recorded the laying of my wreath in the Cathedral on behalf of the people of Worcester and I would urge you to watch the service being live streamed on Sunday.   The important and poignant 2 minutes at 11.00am on Sunday, when we stop our busy lives and remember those whose sacrifices have enabled us to enjoy our freedom, is very important to all of us – especially our veterans.  My deepest thanks go to all our service men and women past and present who have served in the defence of our country.

As Mayor, I was pleased to be able to lay a wreath on the memorial at Gheluvelt Park on Sunday 25th October, to commemorate the achievements of the men of the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment at the Battle of Gheluvelt.  Those brave soldiers saved Ypres from capture and the British Army from defeat in 1914.  34 of them made the ultimate sacrifice and lost their lives.

I enjoyed a few days away before lockdown was introduced and since returning, I was pleased to be part of the unveiling of the Worcester Life Stories Art Exhibition at the end of the Shambles.  We have taken advantage of the scaffolding on St. Swithun’s Church, and with the consent of the Churches Conservation Trust we have hung there pictures of the Shambles from the 1950s to 70s.   There is also a YouTube video here where you to see more images and enjoy past memories of this wonderful part of the city.

Please observe the rules which we will all be under for the next four weeks to protect yourself and others.  Hopefully we will then be able to enjoy a more relaxed Christmas period with family and friends.