WEST MALVERN RING

Clinging to the slopes of the Malvern Hills, the settlement of West Malvern doggedly persists. Oft times cut off from the world by a punishing regime of road closures, the villagers have, of necessity, looked to themselves for sustenance. Perhaps one should not be surprised that the combination of altitude, isolation and a welcoming pub cultivated neural pathways hitherto untrodden. At the crossroads of one such divergence, the much-missed Rob Rankin, who bestowed his wisdom upon two impressionable wnaderers; one the intelligent, witty and sociable Judith Sanoon, the other, Tim White. Soon, they would award themselves directorships of Music and Creativity respectively, even though neither role qualified for concessions on the 675 bus. Untroubled by practicality or viability, they took Mr Rankin's suggestion of staging an opera in the village's Social Club not as a flight of fancy but rather a peak to be vanquished. Doubtless the gravitational pull of The Brewers Arms was a significant factor in their deliberations as they eschewed the funicular of the pocket opera and the light railway of Gilbert and Sullivan, instead committing themselves to the north west face of Wagner's Ring Cycle. At lesser elevations one would anticipate those around them to stage an intervention and exorcise their ravings but here they offered nothing but encouragement, support and the wish to join them. At the start of 2025, an intrepid band of performers, musicians and artists gathered their disparate supplies and marched purposively upwards toward their objective, soon to be engulfed in the beckoning clouds of mist and myth. Here, contained within, is the partial account of their travails.