There will be a strong West Malvern interest in this year's Network Q ('RAC') Rally of Great Britain, which starts on Thursday at Cardiff and will involve 1,000 miles of driving over the roads and forestry tracks of South Wales. Alistair Douglas, of Lower Montpellier Road, will be teaming up again as co-driver with Bob Ceen, now of Welland but who also lived in Lower Montpellier Road in the early 1990s and previously in Skylark Cottage, near Westminster Spout. Bob has had a most successful 2001 in his first season driving a Subaru Impreza and is hoping to improve on his previous best finishing position of 26th in an RAC Rally. He was recently crowned this year's Welsh National Rallying Champion and is currently stands 16th in the GB drivers' ratings - no mean achievement for an amateur competing against the top professionals. Bob's 'day job' is running high-tech company CP Engin-eering based at the Enigma Business Park.

Probably not many people in West Malvern think of themselves as town-dwellers, but perhaps they should think again! For business rates purposes West Malvern, astonishingly, is designated by the Government as an 'urban settlement'. This means that businesses like the shop and post office have to pay full rates as if they were in a town centre, and are not eligible for reliefs granted to similar ventures in areas classed as rural - relief which could make a big difference to their viability. The district council is recommending in its response to a DTLR consultation that this anomaly should be put right and that West Malvern should be designated as a rural settlement. The parish council has also written directly to the DTLR strongly supporting this recommendation. The review's outcome should be known soon after the end of the year.

Just 50p will secure admission to the Christmas craft fair in the Village Hall a week tomorrow (Saturday) in aid of hall funds. There will be lots of craft items on show and for sale between 11am-3pm, and refreshments available.

West Malvern Cricket Club captain Richard Dudley and his wife Lorna will be offering a romantic evening in their home as a lot at the club's auction of promises and cricket memorabilia at Lyttelton Well on November 30. Keen bidding is expected for "a glass of wine in a 300-year-old cottage (one of the oldest in the village) followed by a dinner for four people".