I went to Ely Pride yesterday (August 6th). It was, as expected, a very lively and colourful event.

Events like this take a lot of planning and organisation. So well done to those on the Pride Committee.

Rotary club of Ely members were there to give out leaflets about the event. We have supported all the Ely Pride events.

In fact, Pride gets great support from all aspects of the community which is great to see. It’s a great way of meeting people too.

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.

Going to other events does give you ideas. We do not want Aquafest to become tired or ‘old hat’ whatever that expression means.

If you have any ideas or comments, please let us know. It is always good to have constructive criticism please though. The ‘wash up’ meeting starts the planning for Aquafest 2023.

We have already had enquiries about stalls which is a good sign. I hope that some of you have started your raft building plans!

I was surprised the other day to see Christmas cards for sale in charity shops. It is August! That being said, we have our first Ely Rotary Christmas Collection meeting next month.

The collection is on a much larger scale these days, Ely has grown and there are more houses to visit. We need help.

The collection has several static sites and the House to House, if you have an hour or two to spare to collect, please let us know.

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. Get in touch. www.elyrotary.co.uk