This week has revolved around St George, whose day it was on April 23. Appropriately, that evening I attended a special service at St George’s Church, Barbourne, at which Bishop John Inge gave the sermon. He reminded us that in fact St George was born in Turkey in about 300AD, served in the Roman Army and died in Palestine. It’s unlikely he ever visited England!
Doing a bit of research afterwards I found that St George’s emblem, a red cross on a white background, was adopted by Richard the Lionheart when he was fighting in the Crusades, and later brought back to England.
It was of course Richard who granted Worcester its charter in 1189. By coincidence, this week, I had shown the original charter which we keep in the Guildhall to two groups of students visiting from Zaragoza in Spain. We also have a St George’s flag in the parlour and one flying from the Guildhall roof so it’s good to link up all of our history in this way to visitors from abroad.
If anyone had been at the Guildhall on Saturday they would have seen people dressed in clothes and armour from the past. The occasion was the Three Battles Festival organised by historian Dilip Sarkar, which brought together three local societies who commemorate the Battle of Evesham in 1265, the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 and Battles of Worcester in the Civil War.
Carol and I had to quickly retreat from the battle scene of the Guildhall to the calmer surroundings of Cripplegate Park where Linda Sammonds and the Friends of the Park had organised a party of activities for young people centred on the new I-play facility. Thanks to everyone who voted for this project as part of the People’s Millions Lottery – it’s a great addition to a flourishing park.
It was off to the Swan Theatre in the evening to watch a terrific and moving performance by Worcester Operatic and Dramatic Society of Titanic – The Musical. How well the drama unfolded, from the liner leaving England to her sinking with terrible losses. Well done not only to the 40 or more who appeared on stage but probably the equal number of people backstage who produced it.
Finally, on Sunday it was back to St George in his role as patron saint of Scouting. The cathedral was packed for the Worcester district Scouts service and how good it was that so many Beavers, Cubs and Scouts took part by parading banners and doing readings on the theme of the environment. We then took the salute outside the Guildhall. The parade stretched the length of the High Street as more than 500 marched past accompanied by the Sea Scouts band. What a colourful spectacle to end the St George’s celebrations.