THIS year's Church Stretton and South Shropshire Arts Festival, the 42nd, again offers a wide variety of events, including concerts, poetry and a fabulous exhibition.

The festival has established a reputation for cultural excellence and musical diversity, providing audiences with exciting and highly entertaining events.

It opens on July 19 with an outstanding Czech group, The Wihan Quartet, playing music by Haydn and Mozart, together with the American Quartet by Dvorak, the most famous composer of their native country.

Also on the programme is a performance on Sunday, July 20, of A Midsummer Night's Dream by Heartbreak Productions, one of the UK's leading touring theatre companies; a Freddie Mercury tribute evening; an illustrated adventure talk about The Last Forbidden Kingdom, Mustang in the Himalayas.

The festival will also feature three organ recitals by local players Michael Davey, Richard Walker and Richard Silk in the thatched church at Little Stretton in the second week of the festival. These will run from noon for 45 minutes on Tuesday, July 29, Thursday, July 31 and Saturday, August 2.

Another classic ingredient of the festival is the arts and crafts exhibition, which attracts more than 100 professional and amateur artists showing more than 500 works of art. This year's guest artist is David Mace, whose paintings, drawings and prints focus primarily on the Shopshire Hills, where he lives, and the west coast of Scotland.

The reception and opening of the exhibition takes place at Church Stretton School on Monday, July 21, at 7.30pm, and it is then open daily, from Tuesday, July 22, to Friday, August 1, from 11am to 6pm.

Tickets and details are available from John R Thomas (florist) 3 Sandford Avenue, Church Stretton, and Church Stretton TIC, Church Street, Church Stretton, by post from the ticket secretary, Gloria Carter, Bracken End, 49 Ludlow Road, Church Stretton. SY6 6AD - telephone 01694 724106 - or via the website at strettonfestival.org.uk Free transport using the Ring & Ride service is available for all festival events and is open to anyone by calling 01694 720025.