Having been an active member of High Street Malvern from its inaugural meeting in the Abbey Hotel on 18th January 2007 I have been trying in some small way to help Malvern to re-awaken. High Street Malvern have been instrumental in promoting and/or kick-starting several good initiatives around the town as you can see in achievements. What we have not been good at, is communicating our activities and successes to the people of Malvern – nor have we been good at keeping the large number of early supporters with us. It is my wish to change this. I want to build on the excellent work of previous Chairmen by building up our membership and encouraging more active involvement.
I recall as a youngster Malvern being a bustling, lively, interesting place to be. At weekends the streets, the shops, Winter Gardens Pump Room and Priory Park were packed with people. In the Winter Gardens main hall there were dances and concerts every Saturday & Sunday. All the famous big bands of the day came to Malvern an there seemed to be a youth club on every street corner.
We can't turn the clock back as times move on and people’s interests and habits change. Even so I still have a dream to see Gt. Malvern re-emerging as the place to be – for it to be a dynamic shopping centre once again, attracting new businesses, both large and small. There are far too many empty shop premises at the present time.
Malvern has always been the centre of my universe. I am very proud of the fact that I was born in Malvern Wells and have lived in and around Malvern all my life. One of my early schools was Lyttelton School in Church St.. For 25 years I ran a TV business at Link Top, was an Officer with the local Air Training Corp for 17 years, a Malvern Hills Conservator for 12 years (3 years as Chairman), a member and secretary for the Malvern Spa Association for the past 10 years & Chairman/Organizer of the Malvern Walking Festival for the past 7 years. I think I can claim to have the interests of Malvern very close to my heart.
