MALVERN boasts a happy mixture of outstanding natural beauty and lively culture.

QinetiQ is one of the foremost scientific research facilities in Britain. Morgan is a world leader in the heritage of motoring. Perhaps as a result the local audience for theatrical and musical events is more diversified and sophisticated than in many other places and, being more interesting, these events draw customers from a wider regional catchment area.

Many of us have friends who come here regularly from far afield, recently in my case from London, Edinburgh, near Europe, the USA and South Africa, to share our life style, spend money in our shops and return to spread the message 'Malvern is an international cultural and heritage centre'. These qualities make for a thriving industry, which must or at least could and should contribute substantially to the town's income.

Should we not continue to build on this success? Rather than dumbing ourselves down towards becoming just another 'light industry town', should we not recognise and capitalise on the uniqueness of Malvern as a centre of cultural excellence and set about raising the necessary public and private money to allow our theatres to remain independent, endorse the excellent artistic policies of Nic Lloyd and his staff, subsidise our renowned symphony orchestra the ESO, prime new artistic initiatives of all kinds particularly those that can raise the aspiration of our youngsters, and generally finance what Malvern already does well rather than what might temporarily seem to be politically correct?

DEREK SMITH, Priory Road, Malvern.