Apologies to anyone who went all the way to Prickwillow too see Father Christmas only to find he wasn’t there.

NO ROOM

A trip from Stone Bridge to Cross Green used to be quite depressing. There seemed to be more shops standing empty than trading. Now, not counting the old grammar school there is only one closed on the whole journey, the one-time Omar, and rumours abound as to what nation’s cuisine will be coming out of there in the future. Admittedly a few shops have been converted into flats, but only one not in business is very encouraging. Over the past few weeks four new businesses have opened up in town. Of course, being Soham, three of them are food outlets, but good luck to them.

You can judge for yourself tomorrow how effective the revival of the high street has been when the annual street fair (late night shopping) takes place. It’s always an enjoyable evening seeing people that you haven’t come across since the carnival. This year as well as the usual stalls and rides for the children there will be music from local bands on local trailers.

KEEP UP

Jake the spaniel is quite pleased he can’t read sometimes. If he could he would have been pretty confused over the “Christmas at the Pump” event at the Prickwillow museum. Some time ago it was announced in the press that it was on Saturday 12th December, which isn’t going to happen. Then it said in this column that it was 5th December. It is actually happening next Sunday, December 12th, from 11am to 4pm. Jake thinks that I ought to get a diary so I wouldn’t keep making mistakes. Well, actually, Jake, I’ve got one. The trouble is I was looking at last year’s when the do at the pump was a week earlier. Apologies to anyone who went all the way to Prickwillow too see Father Christmas only to find he wasn’t there.

HOW PREDICTABLE

Just a brief update on the car-parking charges saga. Over at Newmarket, where they have been charging for a while and have put the charges up quite recently, doing away with a free 30 minutes, they have decided that they really have to raise them again. They will, of course, raise them to strange amounts which nobody will have in change so that they will keep the extra. Isn’t it strange the way that once a large and powerful organisation, say a council, gets the chance to charge its captive audience it never seems able to stop. And once it starts charging it never knows when it is charging too much; “if people are paying it must be OK.” This is another reason to resist charges in Ely. Once they are introduced they will rocket and continue to do so. Be warned by our neighbours in Suffolk.

GOOD TIMES

There are a few event over the weekend that you might like to enjoy. On Saturday night from 7.30 the all conquering Soham Comrades Band will be performing in their annual Christmas concert. If you’re not in the Christmas mood yet, an evening of seasonal music by a top class band should get you there. The following evening, at 6.30, the band will be performing at the Methodist carol concert at Berrycroft. The following evening (we’ve got to Monday, now, by the way) the Lisa Barnes fund, organised by husband Robert, will be swelled by a bingo evening at the Brook, 7 for 8. Proceeds will go to the Arthur Rank Hospice which looked after Lisa so well.