Haddenham Arts Centre Creative Café gets under way this Friday.

If you’ve an unfinished creative project (UFO) or need some FREE advice on textiles/ repair pop over to Haddenham Arts Centre on Friday September 10 from 10am – 12pm.

Gillian Leaper and Karen will be on hand to help advise.

The autumn is a great time to pull out your creative projects and get them finished.

We’re also starting a regular Little Art Club at our Community Arts Centre on Tuesdays from 11am – 12pm with Lydia.

It's a great session for little ones with story time and a free art activity for parents and carers with little ones aged between 2-4 years. Both sessions will run weekly in October through to December.’

For more information check out our website www.haddenhamartscentre.org.uk

CAROLINE CAWLEY

Arts centre manager

Time to continue lifelong learning

Ely Lifelong Learners present the course Women Gardeners with Andrew Sankey.

It looks at five important women gardeners, their gardens, design work and influence on today’s gardens.

It will include Gertrude Jekyll, Ellen Willmott, Nora Lindsay, Vita Sackville-West and Beth Chatto.
Venue- The Countess Free Church, Chapel Street, Ely. Wednesday 15th

September 10.30-12.00 for 8 weeks. Course fee £50

To book contact Anne Warham on 1353 662712 or at

awarham575@btinternet.com for further details.

ANNE WARHAM

Elis (secretary)
Many thanks,
Anne Warham, secretary Ells


Plenty of reasons to join Hereward Rotary Club

Now that life is returning to greater normality, we at Ely Hereward Rotary are getting back into a very interesting series of activities and events.

Our club is open to both men and women of all ages. We are currently looking for enthusiastic people to come and join us in support of communities both local and further afield.

We make a major contribution to community events, such as Aquafest, Ely Fireworks, the Potato Race and Apple Day.

We also fund-raise for local charities with a range of events, including our mulled wine stall at Christmas.

The events we organise bring a sense of achievement in a job well done. We also take pride in keeping our environment looking attractive - litter-picking around St Peter's and maintaining the Back Hill Garden.

We have a very successful and continuing affiliation with a school in The Gambia, where the class-rooms which our fund-raising has helped build are being equipped for science and vocational training.

You may be somebody who's just moved to the area, somebody who enjoys joining in, or want to find something active, enjoyable and worthwhile to do where you live. If you found satisfaction in volunteering during the Covid pandemic, come and meet us.

In addition to our regular meetings, we also organise social events and trips out.

If you would like to meet us and hear more about what we do, see our Facebook page or contact me

JANET PORTER

j.e.porter@btinternet.com


Here’s what you told us of the decision to abolish £100k homes

I’ll tell you what the population of Ely and surrounding villages need and this social housing not affordable housing.

All the pen pushers in the council have no idea of Joe public, so stop with all the crap about affordable housing.

Everywhere I look all I see is private houses being built

PAUL KETTLEY-BRADDICK

Public housing to rent is what’s really needed.

This ‘affordable housing’ confidence trick would be thrown in the bin by any politician that was actually working in the public interest.

FRANCIS LILLIE

Affordable for who?

Minimum wage workers would still not be able to afford that.

We're almost at the point in UK of needing a national housing service that is concerned with building, maintenance and provision of affordable social housing.

ROBERT PINION

The problem with this is tax payers' money is being spent on a handful of homes which will only benefit a handful of people, when the issues is that we need to deregulate the housing market (which costs nothing!) to make housing more affordable for all.

This is just tokenism government thinking because they are too cowardly to stand up to NIMBY's who fight against housing developments because they are alright and own a home already.

SIMON TOMPKINS

Deregulate! What sort of deregulation do you mean?

Take away the need for planning permission so homes can be built anywhere no matter what’s lost or how disruptive it will be to the local area?

Perhaps you’d like to see a watering down of safety in terms of the build and the property itself? It’s so much cheaper to use substandard materials and have no inspectors to ensure both workplace and finished property are safe.

Perhaps you could be kind enough to tell us what you mean by deregulation and what areas you think need it

The whole thing was just another of Mayor Palmer’s vanity projects. It was ill conceived, didn’t actually address the problems but looked good for Palmer as he boasted about how good he was.

DELENN MORESEY

The writing had always been on the wall that the funding model didn't work.

Everyone other than James Palmer and his stooges had been pointing it out for years.

MATT DOWNEY

Volunteers to help enforce parking? Maybe not

Absolutely pathetic! No other words for it!

It is antisocial and often dangerous and selfish how people park and get away with it.

Councillors are spineless and frightened to implement punitive measures. What about cameras?

PHILIP EDEN

It would be helpful to have a meeting to discuss the meeting that should be had to arrange a meeting to discuss who will attend a meeting to see if anyone is really bothered to do anything properly to resolve this.

All talk, no action, no balls.

CHRIS CADON

What on earth next, they've already got volunteers collecting litter for them.

Why should volunteers put themselves in harm's way trying to enforce the law against the terrible parking in certain areas of the district!

I suggest that the councillors get out there in their Hi-vis jackets and face the abuse from those who park where it suits them before putting this absurd idea into practice.

MALCOLM BOUGHEN

Inept springs to mind

SIMON SHARPE

In my experience, the trouble with civil enforcement is that it doesn't allow for common sense, and for justifiable exemptions.

Rather it's performance based, giving out as many tickets as possible. I am not saying there isn't a problem, I am just concerned how hard it will be enforced

MARY SUTTON


Totally agree with council.

Civil parking enforcement ruined Horsham in West Sussex – I saw first-hand.

The rates for businesses rose to unaffordable levels and the car parks charged even when the land was originally gifted by families for the use of the people.

Traffic wardens made little difference and we lost the individual shops to the same bland stores.

It is a ghost town of what it used to be... don't do this to Ely for the sake of a few cars.

JENNY DIZZY STONE

Apart from Forehill there are no parking issues in Ely. So no need to change anything.

MARTYN FORDHAM

As someone who has massive problems with parking in front or too near my garage in a very busy road near the river

And no one will take responsibility and do anything; it is all very frustrating

SALLYANN FORD

We do have park rangers who only look after council carparks. Why not utilize them instead and put parking charges on in the carparks

Newmarket do it and also have traffic wardens

We need to get in the real world or are we waiting for a fatality

GERALDINE EDIS

Ely trade relies on free parking...we fought for it....let's keep it

BARRY LONSDALE

I'd be interested in any research that finds either way.

I know people who come to Ely because of the free parking but I also know people who don't come to Ely because 'you have to drive round and round the city to find a space'

RUPERT MOSS-ECCARDT

The council and police should be ashamed of themselves.

Not only Forehill but all other yellow line areas. The situation now is if we had a traffic warden who tickets all offenders then his wages would be paid for and some leftover.

Job done.

RAYMOND LAWRENCE

People park in loading spaces and have no respect for the poor lorry drivers. Ely needs traffic wardens to issue tickets

EMMY ATKIN