WEST Malvern is bracing itself for an exceptionally busy week of events, with St James’s C of E primary school as the common theme of several. Appropriately in this year of major building development at the school, the guest speaker at the Annual Parish Meeting at the Village Hall on Monday (May 11 - note the time, 7pm!) will be head teacher Karen Surrall who will give an update on progress both on the building project and local fundraising. The meeting will provides an opportunity for the Parish Council to report on its activities in the past year and for residents to ask questions and raise issues on any aspect of the life of the village.

Tomorrow (Saturday) sees a coffee morning with stalls in St James’s Church from 10am-noon to raise funds for the building fund, while next Saturday, May 16, the school is laying on a History Day. Although aimed mainly at former pupils of all generations, it is likely to interest anyone curious about the school’s past and its exciting plans for the future. Open from 10.30am-3pm, the unique event will feature photos and archive material and refreshments will be available.

Congratulations to the Garden and Nature Club on winning yet another well-deserved Gold Award for their brilliant interpretation of Charles Darwin’s work at the West Malvern Tap in last weekend’s Well Dressing competition. Full of ideas, it was beautifully and imaginatively realised - and presided over by the Great Man himself (presumably Darwin, but he did bear a suspicious resemblance to club stalwart and competition organiser Lionel Butcher – whose wife Barbara also won a Gold Award in her own right for her dressing of the Beauchamp Spout in Cowleigh Road.) On Tuesday May 12, at 7.30pm there will be another recital on the recently refurbished organ in St James Church by the young Norwegian organist Jarle Fagerheim, who will be playing works by Stanford, Bach, Hollins, Thalben-Ball, Franck and Vierne. Admission £5 on the door to include glass of wine.

The following night (Wednesday, May 13) at 7.30pm the church will again be in use, this time for the AGM of the Friends of St James’s Church, after which there will be a talk by our local naturalist Peter Garner on Pictures of Nature around the Malverns.

Finally, there will be a meeting of the Parochial Church Council at 7.30pm. But at the time of writing it seems that there is no village event scheduled for Friday!