MAYOR'S COLUMN: Cllr Allah Ditta reflects on his week

The eastern theme continued into the afternoon when those splendid folk at Altaf’s Balti handed over a handsome cheque for my Kashmir Earthquake Fund. Delighted to say that a special account has been set up to receive desperately-needed funds for this worthwhile cause – you can now donate directly at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/allah-ditta-1

I was honoured to maintain a fine old Worcester tradition the next day: receiving the Election Writ formally setting in motion the wheels for next month’s race to elect a government.

The subject of human rights and self-advocacy for people with learning difficulties proved well to the fore when, as the guest of local charity Speakeasy NOW, I took part in a debate on the implications of a new white paper on the issue at County Hall. Interesting stuff that’s all too easily overlooked.

Those fine, funsome finger-pluckers of Worcester Ukulele Club provided yet another thoroughly enjoyable backdrop to its campaign for Children in Need in Crowngate on Saturday. I don’t have the skills or the necessary co-ordination to strum a uke, but I did get to do a jig with Pudsey, and that required no skills whatsoever!

And so to Remembrance Day – always a highlight in any mayor’s calendar and one that we must never allow to lapse. The turnout was such that all Worcester can be rightly proud, the lessons of sacrifice and respect seemingly not lost on our younger generations. The afternoon saw a similar wreath-laying ceremony at the grave of our own Rev Studdert Kennedy, the legendary Woodbine Willie, but I have to say that the cenotaph ceremony marking the actual day – at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month – was hideously marred by the traffic being allowed to trundle by without a care.

Presenting the prizes at Tudor Grange Academy prize evening at the Cathedral on Wednesday, however, restored some much-needed sanity.