THE great Polish immigration into Britain has reached West Malvern - in the person of Lukasz Zolc (don't even try to pronounce it!) who is now living on Westminster Bank.

The 26-year-old came to England 18 months ago and after first working in a Madley, Hereford timber yard, more recently moved to West Malvern to work for Paul Farrer on the final stages of the Raglan House Media Centre Project.

He hails from Gniezno, a city in central Poland near Poznan, roughly halfway between Berlin and Warsaw. He decided to try his luck in Britain because of the wages, which are around four times Polish rates.

Although his first job was as a butcher, he is a skilled plasterer and interior decorator currently working on a room makeover at Bank House. He says he would like to get similar jobs locally. He has his own phone number, but although he is working hard on his English and taking lessons, he can best be contacted through Paul Farrer on 01684 574217.

Lukasz is keen to get to know more people locally and recently enjoyed a musical evening at the Lamb. He himself plays keyboard but says that the Polish music he is familiar with is very different from what he hears here. An event he is looking forward to keenly is the arrival of his 49-year-old mother on a visit to West Malvern in July, on what will be the first holiday she has ever had in the her life.

Posters are now on the village notice boards advertising the West Malvern Open Gardens Day on Sunday week, June 10, to raise funds for the organ refurbishment appeal is now entering its final stages. No fewer than eight gardens - several not previously opened to the public - will be on display from 2-6pm. It should be a real treat provided the weather is in a kindly mood - one or two recent days would not have been very good for garden watching! After the driest and warmest April for years, we have had more than 5ins (125mm) of rain in a largely chilly May. Let's hope the start of a new month sees a change for the better.

The organisers of the WMCC Jazz Night two weeks today are keen to sell as many tickets as possible before the event, for the excellent reason that it will help them to judge how much beer and wine to order! The beer will be live so the barrel will have to be tapped the day before. So if you plan to go to this popular event, bigger and better this year with the Trevor Emeny's Crescendo Big Band, why not book now with Bob or Val Blackbourn on 01684 564893?

It must be the altitude at the Brewers Arms that makes them come up with wacky ideas. The latest is a Christmas Party. Well, nothing special about that, you may think, except that it is to take place on June 23 complete with turkey, plum pudding and a lot of extras including a tombola for the charity bottle, for which Trevor and Sue are asking for donations of small prizes.

There have been mutterings lately about the state of the Quabbs footpath, which is somewhat overgrown at its upper end and which has suffered some flooding after the rains from an intermittent spring at its lower end near Montpelier Road. We are assured that both problems are in hand and should be tackled shortly.