Mayor of Worcester Blog

This week’s column is penned by Cllr Steve Mackay, Deputy Mayor of Worcester

 

Last Friday the Chief Executive of St Richards Hospice, Mark Jackson, kindly arranged for me and others to tour the hospice to gain a greater understanding of what St Richards can offer. While the 17 bed unit provides In-Patient care, St Richards also receive Out- Patients at its clinics and their nurse specialists visit those who are seriously ill in their own homes.  But it does not stop there with Family Support as well as Bereavement Support being offered to relatives at such difficult times. Worcestershire must be grateful for having such a caring body of people ready to step in and help when families need the most assistance.

That evening I took up an invitation to watch an incredibly exciting first match of the season by Worcester Wolves Basketball Team at the University Arena. And what a match, with five minutes to go the opposition, Cheshire Phoenix, were leading the Wolves by five points.  Full time saw a draw, so the game went into extra time.  This was great for the Wolves, who ended up winning 88 to 85. Worcester fans were terrific and gave tremendous support.

On Saturday afternoon I joined the St John Ambulance team in Angel Place, helping with their Save a Life campaign. While we were distributing information on CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation), we found many people asking for the leaflets and wanting demonstrations.  The team were able to show exactly what needs to be done by using their resuscitation dummies.

That evening I watched the Worcester Male Voice Choir sing their way through a number of songs in their repertoire. College Hall is a great setting for the choir, who gave us many different styles of song and obviously enjoyed entertaining as much as the audience appreciated their efforts. If you haven’t heard the choir sing you might like to obtain a ticket for one of their upcoming concerts; you won’t be disappointed!

 

This week’s diary is written by the Deputy Mayor, Cllr Steve Mackay.  

Friday started with me opening the Worcester Festival of Business. Many local enterprises left their offices to use stands to promote their services.  Good to see Worcester City Council advertising how it can provide funding for business ‘start ups’ and growth funding.

That same morning I visited the Church of Latter Day Saints in St Peters. If anyone is thinking of researching their family tree, the Church has a wonderful resource there and would be very pleased to help you…. and it’s free.

That evening we attended the annual Hereford and Worcester Fire Service Awards, where fire fighters received awards for long service and good conduct. These are important awards, reflecting their commitment to the public.   An award was also given to Mr Phil Hall of Malvern, whose act of heroism in entering a burning home saved the lives of a disabled man and his pet.

On Saturday evening we attended Pershore Abbey where Sue and John Fletcher celebrated what would have been their son Paul’s 40^th birthday, had he survived.  The congregation were treated to the music of the Morriston Orpheus Choir, together with a soloist Huw Euron.  Paul’s niece Megan also sang beautifully to the congregation.  All proceeds from the event went to St. Richard’s Hospice.

Of course the event of the week in Worcester was the 10K run attended by celebrities Steve Cram, Jennie Meadows and Louise Minchin of the BBC. A fantastic morning with some 2,600 runners taking part (not including the under 16’s). The events included wheelchair competitors and a Run, Bike, Run event.   A fantastic day for Worcester– we must keep this going year on year.  So many happy people – congratulations must go to the organisers for such a well presented occasion.

I finished my week by attending the AGM of Headway Worcester, a charity dedicated to improving the lives of those suffering from brain injury. I was privileged to give awards to some very dedicated staff and volunteers.

 

Last Friday morning our four mace-bearers, our sword-bearer, the mayoress and I joined the principal of the Heart of Worcestershire College and other academic leaders in procession to the Cathedral.  This annual event precedes the splendid graduation ceremony.

It was wonderful to see so many proud young people being presented with their hard-earned degrees and diplomas.

In the evening we visited the studio of Caro Burberry, a local sculptor whose work is critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. There were many fine examples of her work on display, which were much admired.

On Saturday we attended a charity riverboat cruise from Stourport-on-Severn, at the mayor’s invitation.  This helped raise money for Midlands Air Ambulance, which is one of my own mayoral charities.

In the evening, we travelled to Wolverhampton to watch the final of the Nuneaton and District Junior Swimming League. Teams of swimmers aged 8 to 12 compete to win the prizes. This year, Worcester Swimming Club’s junior team were not only in division one, but made it to the final. Congratulations to them all for their effort and for bringing home a couple of trophies. I’m sure they will do even better in future with the advantage of training at Worcester’s new swimming pool, which will open in the New Year.

Charlotte Whitehead, Callum Strickland and Tom Banks rescued a man in trouble in the River Severn in Worcester on 3 July.  I welcomed these Pershore High School students to the parlour and presented them with Bravery Awards on behalf of our city. Their parents and school are rightly proud of them.

Later, I attended a meeting of City Parish Relief in Need Charity, where I am a trustee. My week ended with a visit of French students on an exchange visit with Edward Oldcorne RC College.

The presentation of the annual community sports awards at the University Arena rounded off our week.

Plenty of variety this week! Unveiling statues, flag flying, commemorating a fire and a battle, attending a carnival, receiving a charity donation and planning future events.

Works of art are always a bit like marmite – loved or disliked – and our new Cornmarket statues will be no different. They certainly add interest to the area and everyone who spoke to me at the unveiling ceremony liked them. The level of detail is amazing and it is good that the people represented were chosen by local people.

We travelled to the London last week to be received by the Lord Mayor who thanked Worcester people for £230 13s 9d given to their citizens after the Great Fire in 1666. Worcester was a much smaller place then, so it is remarkable that we were able to provide the equivalent of over £100,000 in today’s money. The fire made 65,000 people homeless, but Worcester’s generosity helped to rebuild the place. What a contrast today to visit the Lord Mayor’s magnificent Mansion House home, opposite the Bank of England.  This area now has the greatest concentration of wealth in this country.

I was proud to raise the Red Ensign over our Guildhall on Merchant Navy Day (3rdSeptember). This date also marks the start of the Second World War when thousands of merchant seamen died on ships sunk by enemy submarines. It is important to remember their sacrifice.

Later, we attended Stourport Carnival where large crowds enjoyed the floats and entertainment despite the rain. What a pity that our own carnival was cancelled.

In the evening, we processed to the Commandery and Fort Royal Hill for a service to commemorate the 365th anniversary of the Battle of Worcester.

Back in the parlour I thanked Individual Tailoring for their generous donation from a raffle for my charities. We also met the charities to plan future events, about which I’ll say more later.