WITH the main Christmas events in Great Malvern and Barnards Green behind us, the festive season in the town is well and truly under way.

And the Malvern Gazette is in the lead with its #Very Malvern campaign to spread the word about the town's distinctive and individual small businesses, both in the paper and across a range of social media.

Traders and shoppers have been joining our drive to encourage people to shop local during the festive season.

All you have to do is add the hashtag #VeryMalvern to your own social media posts, so that our search engines can find them. We them share them across our own social media platforms, which brings them to a much larger audience.

And if you want to show your support for our campaign, simply download our exclusive poster at scribd.com/doc/289919107/Very-Malvern-Poster and display it in your shop.

There have been plenty of post by traders showcasing the sheer variety and quality of good stocked by the area's indepedent traders and praising the arrangements for the Christmas celebrations..

Austin and Co, the Belle Vue Terrace-based stationer, said: "#VeryMalvern cards, calendars & prints from @Shuttersphere1 showing how lucky we are to live in this part of world."

Mr Christmas Pudding retweeted: "Glad to see #VeryMalvern back supporting a LOCAL Christmas regards from @thepuddingshop Upton."

Jeanius Design said: "@VeryMalvern Loving the market around the town today! Lovely atmosphere!"

Just So said: "Just So is full of beautiful Christmas scents and sparkle with our lovely fragranced candles and pot-pourri. 'It is beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!' said one cheery customer."

Petals Florist said: "Another busy day, a ton of holly arrived ready for all those Christmas wreaths and very damaged hands! No point of a manicure before Santa arrives now!! We are staying open all day on the 3 Saturdays leading up to 25th giving you more time to visit."

And the Wool Shack said: "Learn to knit and you'll never be short of Christmas gift ideas again!"

And don't forget that Malvern Hills District Council is offering free parking at all its car parks each Friday and Saturday in the run-up to XChristmas, so there's no excuse not to support your local businesses.