What’s in a name? I’m often asked when I meet colleagues: where is Wyre Forest? I ask them to guess. Hampshire is a common answer, probably because of the New Forest. Wyre Forest is in Worcestershire. It is one of the districts created in the 1970s whose name sought to avoid upsetting predecessor boroughs or urban district councils. Our main towns are Kidderminster, Stourport-on-Severn and Bewdley.

If you’ve ever visited the West Midlands Safari Park or travelled on the Severn Valley Railway, you will have been here – and you’d be very welcome to visit again to see the Museum of Carpet, the Georgian canal basins in Stourport or WFDC’s own museum in the historic riverside town of Bewdley.