Watching the King’s Coronation on Saturday brought a vast range of emotions and admiration; awe at the medieval traditions and humility of our new King being dressed in Westminster, to pleasure at seeing all of our nation’s representatives bearing witness to new directions and reflections for Great Britain in 2023.

With a new King, the occasion signalled to me the hope that may be on the horizon during a post-pandemic era. The symbolism and pageantry of the ceremony is what makes the act seem official and marks the next historic period of time.

The bank holiday marked a time of volunteering and being part of the wider community. School has a huge part to play in the community and we want to build on that at Webheath; we want to play a central role in this area. Paul, from the local Boys’ Brigade, sent me a little something to share, which seems absolutely right for this moment in time:

1st Redditch Boys’ Brigade is a local youth organisation based in Headless Cross for boys aged 5-18, we meet weekly on Friday evenings during term time where the boys undertake various activities towards earning their badges. After May half term we move to our open session where the boys take part in outdoor led activities towards their physical badge. For this we require a safe space within our local community.

After many years of using another local school field we were faced with a huge price increase and as a charitable organisation we were unable to continue with hiring this venue. Webheath Academy Primary School kindly offered to support us and last summer we held successful sessions on their school field. We are pleased to be offered this opportunity again this year and we will be using the field between 6.30pm and 9.15pm on Friday evenings, until the end of July.

If anyone is interested in joining the Boys’ Brigade, please contact paul.gration@1stredditch.com for more information.