I WAS, as usual, very impressed by the Ledbury Poetry Festival and the way it brings in some of this country's best poets, as well as involving the whole town in what is actually quite a minority interest. But, as usual, I also felt frustrated that we in Malvern do not seem able to get our act together when it comes to promoting this town.

Take the recent Visual Arts Festival. Why was it so parochial in its scope? The organisers clearly worked very hard, but to what effect? Perhaps it was intended just as an opportunity for local artists to show their work, in which case it seems to have succeeded. However, the point of organising a festival is usually to raise the profile of the town and to bring in visitors, with all that means in terms of increased trade - which I think we all agree that Malvern desperately needs.

To draw visitors festivals must aim high and attract some big names. The Visual Arts Festival threw up some very good ideas - the grounds of St James's School offer a stunning background for a sculpture trail and The Grove and the Priory have great potential for the imaginative placing of artworks. I am sorry to say that the works on show at the latter venues were particularly badly presented and there was far too much mediocre work on display.

So here in Malvern we have a wonderful background for a visual arts festival, plus a lot of expertise on hand, but as always the whole event becomes undermined by a kind of well meaning but misguided view that introducing some kind of standard is exclusive. Local art groups should have a more objective and less self-centred view of their role in such event and participate in the organisation without dominating the exhibitions.

If the MHDC had any vision it would fund a festival administrator with relevant experience and the right contacts to develop the ideas generated by this year's festival into something altogether more professional which would encompass all levels of activity. We might then have an event which could actually contribute to the regeneration of the town.

BRIDGET MACDONALD, St Ann's Road, Malvern.