I HAVE to say a big thank you and well done this week to all the Ely Standard staff who stood for hours making pancakes for the inaugural Ely Standard Pancake Race on Tuesday morning. Also, a huge thank you to all the teams who joined us on the day;

I HAVE to say a big 'thank you' and 'well done' this week to all the Ely Standard staff who stood for hours making pancakes for the inaugural Ely Standard Pancake Race on Tuesday morning. Also, a huge 'thank you' to all the teams who joined us on the day; to Jo Smith from Waitrose who supplied all the ingredients for the pancakes and Mark Peters from Star Radio for spreading the word. The Star Radio team won and although there was a steward's inquiry due to some breeches of the rules (number of flips and some high elbows) the Star team were declared the winners and will hold the Ely Standard engraved frying pan for one year. We hope everyone had a bit of fun and at a time when we are all feeling the pinch and worried about the future it's nice to know we can still switch off for an hour and have a bit of fun without spending huge sums of money.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was off to the Arkenstall Centre in Haddenham to watch the film Waterland and that's exactly what I did on Friday night. Well, to be fair, it was so much more than just a film showing. It was a food and film evening, organised by John Shippey, and I was made to feel very welcome and the food was absolutely delicious. We watched a film called Fenland Eel Catchers, which was from the East Anglian Film Archive and then came the main feature which starred Jeremy Irons, Ethan Hawke and Sinead Cusack, which I enjoyed immensely. I sat on a table with some very nice people who were very knowledgeable about books and also the local area. Two of my dinner companions told me that about four years ago they had spotted the Fen Tiger near their homes. They described a panther or puma-like creature and in one case the animal was seen by several members of the same family. I know it was dark in the hall and there was wine on the table, but these people sounded perfectly sensible and I believe they did actually see the elusive Fen Tiger. Anyway, it was a lovely event and nice way to spend a Friday night.

And such is the cultural diversity of East Cambridgeshire that on Saturday I'm off to see some giant bananas. The Ely Fairtrade Group has organised an event in Ely to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight. It is called Make It Happen: Choose Fairtrade. Ely mayor, Sheila Friend-Smith and town crier, Avril Hayter-Smith, will lead the procession, which starts outside Waitrose at 10am, with supporters carrying the giant bananas. The group will then proceed along the High Street and down to the Catherdral Centre. The event at the centre will include stalls, refreshments, games and quizzes, a fairtrade cooking demonstration, and a talk on Fairtrade. Pauline Jupp, the chairman of the Ely Fairtrade Group, says the aim is for ordinary people, like you and I, to support poor producers and tip the balance in their favour. If you don't know much about Fairtrade then pop along to the Cathedral Centre on Saturday and find out if you can maybe do one or two small things that will make a difference.