THIS year's Autumn in Malvern Festival is been an great success, says founder Peter Smith, with several of its key events selling out.

The festival was this year dedicated to English and Welsh arts, and audiences enjoyed a talk on poet R S Thomas and Bob Kingdom's re-creation of Dylan Thomas.

Musical highlights included the concert by the Royal Northern College of Music's String Orchestra and the organ recital by Thomas Trotter, which showcased Malvern Priory's rebuilt instrument.

The Priory was also packed for last Saturday's Aldwyn Voices concert, with music-lovers not being put off by the day's appalling weather

Mr Smith said that visitors from America and New Zealand were among those who enjoyed festival events.

He thanked Malvern Hills District Council and Worcester-shire County Council for supporting youth activities around the festival.

"I especially want to thank all the local sponsors, businesses and individuals whose generosity makes the festival possible, and the Elmley Foundation," said Mr Smith.

There are still two more events before the festival finishes, both of them talks.

Tickets are going well for the talk on Malvern Priory's ancient stained glass tomorrow (Satur-day) at 3pm.

Heather Gilderdale, of the Courtald Institute, will show how the Priory glass relates to other works of the same period, where the glaziers came from, and what the subject matter of the glass tells us about Malvern's monastic community.

Also tomorrow at 7.30pm, the Elgar Birthplace Museum is the venue for a talk about Elgar and golf.

Kevin Allen, author of Elgar's Inspired Golf, reveals another side of the composer's character with his love of the "game of games".

For tickets, priced £4.50, contact the Malvern Theatres box office on 01684 892200. They are also available on the door.