"West Malvern defeat Old England XI!" has to be our headline story this week, after our village cricket club's victory over a Worcester Royal Grammar School Staff XI, which included former England Test players Tim Curtis and Phil Newport. The visitors batted first and amassed just over 200 runs - many of them scored by Phil Newport (Curtis did not bat). In reply West Malvern got off to a brisk start with half-centuries from Phil Chaundy and Paul Smith. A tight finish was marked by a whirlwind innings from Steve Wright - including a six off Newport! - enabling the home side to knock off the required runs just before the overs ran out.

This was the second successful event of the weekend for the club, following Friday's jazz evening. Attendance may have been affected by a rather cool evening and a clash with the Upton Jazz Festival, but those who were there had a thoroughly enjoyable time in the beautiful surroundings of Mathon Court.

There was a rousing postscript to the Allotment Association's well-attended barbecue on Sunday afternoon. A young rabbit, presumably one of a family which have been creating considerable havoc among plotholders' crops, was spotted and pursued, eventually taking cover under some cloches on one of the allotments. After some careful manoeuvring, it was actually grabbed by Peter Evans, but struggled so hard that it escaped and lives to fight another day - or eat another brussels sprout!

Just what a lively and active community we have in West Malvern is well illustrated by the village directory distributed with the July edition of the Hills Echo. It contains no fewer than 28 contacts, with organisations from the Royal British Legion and the Social Club, through the football, cricket, gardening and drama and pre-school groups to activities as exotic as belly dancing, juggling and a samba band! Congratulations to the compilers of this very useful reference list.