It’s always good to be noticed, and even nicer to be thanked for something you’ve done.

We at the Rotary Club of Ely had a lovely message the other week from Dreamdrops charity.

We had helped to buy a special buggy for a severely disabled child. Not that we did it for thanks though, the club was happy to help.

We have also provided Shelter Boxes and made a donation to Emmaus recently.

If you run a charity, please let us know, we may be able to help. The club is always looking for speakers so tell us what you do.

Next on our calendar is our Aquafest ‘wash up’ meeting when we talk about Aquafest 2022, what went well, not so well and how to improve in the future.

We do not want Aquafest to become tired or ‘old hat’ whatever that expression means.

If you have any ideas or comments, let us know. It is always good to have constructive criticism please though.

The ‘wash up’ meeting starts the planning for Aquafest 2023. I have also provisionally booked the site. We have had enquiries about stalls which is a good sign.

I hope that some of you have started your raft building plans!

Our club also had our first Ely Rotary Christmas Collection meeting last week.

The collection is on a much larger scale these days, Ely has grown and there are more houses to visit. The route has slightly changed this year to accommodate this.

The Santa tracker will be working again this year. We do need help. The collection has several static sites and the house-to-house collection, if you have an hour or two to spare to collect, please get in touch.

You might even fancy a bracing walk (it gets the steps up) of an evening going house to house.

Actually, we are always in need of a Santa – you get your own beard, uniform and transport and it’s a sit-down job, no walking required.

The children love seeing Santa, there’s a feel-good factor all round.

The Rotary Club of Ely will be giving out free purple crocus corms (corms not bulbs I was reliably informed) at the market on October 20 to raise awareness of Purple4Polio, Rotary’s mission to eradicate polio.

It is a devastating disease and has begun to come back in the UK.

Come and talk to us via www.elyrotary.co.uk or vclariced@hotmail.com.