Valerie Blackbourn has stood down after 15 years of dedicated work as a governor of St James's C of E Primary School. Her outstanding leadership during a long period as chairman was recognised in a recent Ofsted report on the school.

In appreciation of her service, pupils and parents last week presented her with £60 worth of book tokens and a cake specially made by school pupil Grace Blackett featuring the school logo on the icing!

Few people in West Malvern have done more for the community than Valerie, whose other activities have included periods as a churchwarden and parish clerk, tireless work for the cricket club (of which her husband Bob is current chairman) - and a spell as village correspondent for this page!

St James's Church is sure to be full at 6.30pm on Sunday for the annual carols by candlelight service, always an occasion which brings the community together before Christmas.

Looking further ahead, the Society of Friends of St James's Church will be holding its annual general meeting at the Village Hall on Friday, January 18, when the guest speaker will be Cora Weaver on The Springs and Wells of the Malvern Area. With Phase 1 of the work (the chancel roof) now complete, the Friends are looking ahead to fundraising for the next stage and some intriguing events are already being planned for 2002.

They claimed to be "Devoid of Brains" - but the team of Karen and Alistair Douglas and Iain and Hilary Macmillan proved brainy enough to score 80 points and take the runners-up prize at last Saturday's West Malvern Cricket Club Christmas quiz. But the runaway winners were Brian and Diana O' Connell, Ted Ekins and Sue Dakin, with the topical team name "100 Hours of Community Service", who finished 13 points ahead with 93 points.

Also topical was the Best Team Name, "Two Plain Spotters and Two Pretty Ones" chosen by Jim and Jenny Nisbet and Derek and Margaret Price. At the end of the evening quizmaster Andy Dakin displayed the first-ever trophy won by the club in its 15-year history - the Worcestershire Evening League's Fair Play Trophy.