Opinion

Of course, there were some problems, as there were bound to be, for this was a large undertaking for what is, to its credit, these days a modestly staffed council compared to its rather more grand scale of the recent past.

Moving the fair up from the Council House car park into the heart of the town centre was surely a good move. Unfortunately, it set up down Grange Road when it was supposed to be down Graham Road and thus left traders down that end of town cut off again.

There is clearly a need to have planned pitches for fairground rides next year to avoid shops and food outlets which had opened specially being blocked off.

With hindsight the move to stretch the event into a second day was a little ambitious, as without the fair there was little to maintain the party atmosphere.

Again this was done for the best of reasons, to build on last year's success and try and get more people in town at a time when in might benefit traders.

Without more financial support, it might be that the town council's resources simply can't stretch to two days of entertainment. It is for this reason that the lights are still a little disappointing as the council feels it should use what it has around Malvern's other shopping centres and not just Great Malvern.

Even so for a town council to organise an event which can attract maybe 4,000 people into the town centre is a great effort. If traders want to get more involved next year, they would no doubt be welcome to join the organising committee.