From the sister of a future American president to the battlefields of World War I, there will be plenty of events of interest when Malvern's civic week comes around in July.

Malvern Civic Society has just released details of the four main talks it is hosting during the week which is designed to show the variety and cohesion of the town and its community.

The week starts with the return of historian and writer Paula Byrne, well-known for her book Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead, which told the story of the great author's connections with Madresfield Court and how it affected his novel Brideshead Revisited.

Byrne will be at the Coach House Theatre in Grange Road on Saturday, July 11, to talk about Kathleen Kennedy of the American political dynasty and sister to future president John F Kennedy.

Her father was US ambassador to the UK and during her time in the UK, her social circles included the Lygons of Madresfield.

The week continued on Tuesday, July 14, when James Hervey-Bathurst appears at the Forum to talk about Eastnor Castle.

Over the last 25 years, the Hervey-Bathurst family has restored the castle and its surrounding deer park, and made it in to a successful tourist attraction.

Mr Hervey-Bathurst will tell how his parents saved the castle during the difficult period following 1945, and how the estate has benefitted more recently from grants from English Heritage and the Country Houses Foundation and income from sources such as the Land Rover Experience and the Big Chill music festival.

On Wednesday, July 15, award-winning professional photographer Michael St Maur Sheil will present Fields of Battle, Lands of Peace at the Forum.

For the past eight years, St Maur Shiel has been documenting First World War battlefields, from familiar names such as the Somme and Ypres to lesser-known fronts in Palestine and East Africa.

Proceeds from the talk will be shared between the Army Benevolent Fund and Malvern Theatres Development Fund.

And on Thursday, July 16, Jaguar's creative director of external design, Adam Hatton, who was brought up and educated in Malvern, will come back to the town to talk about his work in creating the famous car company's new XE compact sports saloon.

Roger Sutton of the civic society said: "We want to hear from other groups which want to get involved and arrange events during the week, whether they are schools, churches or other community groups, so we can include them in the brochure which we will be producing later this spring."

Anyone interested should contact: katharine.barber@btinternet.com or civic.week@ btinternet .com.