MALVERN lives on in New Zealand, despite the town changing its name to Sheffield, say Malvern Gazette readers.

Sheelagh Lewis got in touch after reading about Worcestershire Golf Club members visiting Malvern, Philadelphia, to tell us the name Malvern also remains in the Selwyn District of the Canterbury Region of New Zealand.

"The similarity of the outline of the Worcestershire Malvern Hills and those in Canterbury is remarkable," she said.

According to Mrs Lewis and her husband Roger, who are writers and lecturers living in both Malvern, England and Christchurch, New Zealand, settlers of mainly Yorkshire origin changed the town's name to Sheffield in 1875.

"It's not surprising there are Malvern, Worcestershire connections with that part of New Zealand as the development of Canterbury began in Malvern when James Robert Godley and Edward Gibbon Wakefield met taking the water cure in November 1847."

The two men put together their ideas on the colonisation of New Zealand and created the Canterbury Association in 1848.

Today, both Malverns share an interest in water, said Mrs Lewis.

"The Malvern Hills Preservation Society leads the fight against plans to flood part of the Malvern district to create a huge lake for irrigation," she added.

The Malvern district has two, free local weekly papers The Malvern Record and the Malvern News.

Gazette readers Anne and David Laycock visited the Malvern News offices when they were visiting the Christchurch area.

They said the paper was run by two people, the editor and an assistant, but the editor was out of the country.

"We did try to explain to her where about Malvern was is England but her geography was on a par with those who think Malvern is in Wales," they added.