TWO days of Christmas entertainment are being laid on at the Elgar Birthplace Museum, Lower Broadheath.

This includes words and music by singers, instrumentalists and readers, together with seasonal refreshments and family quiz.

The event is on Saturday, November 30, and Sunday, December 1, from 11am to 5p. Normal admission charges apply.

Performers will be drawn from the local area, including Malvern, Worcester and Lower Broadheath. They include Malvern music teacher Alison Uren and pupils, recorder players Western Wynd and Tim Cranmore, from Malvern, with Christmas readings by Margaret Fortheringham, also from Malvern.

Meanwhile, the venue also has two new exhibitions, one on music making in Victorian Worcestershire and the other on Elgar's friend Billy Reed.

Programmes from local music societies from the period feature in the Victorian exhibition, along with items relating to Elgar. His time in Worcester Glee Club, where he played violin and piano and composed, is included, together with information on his own wind quartet and the Powick Asylum Band, for which he composed polkas and quadrilles.

The exhibition on Reed is the second in the series on Elgar's musical friends. Leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, Dr Reed became a close friend of Elgar, who dedicated Sospiri to him. As well as premiering all Elgar's mature chamber music, Reed wrote two important books on the composer. He died in 1942, aged 66, and a plaque marks the spot where his ashes are interred in Worcester Cathedral, close to the Gerontius window, which is Elgar's memorial.

The exhibitions will be in place until the end of March.