This is when fund-raising hots up

Flaming June! Even if the weather has not been quite as flaming as I might have hoped (I was forced to put on a cardigan last night), my diary has been packed.

Having spent every minute the past few weeks rehearsing and performing in a play, after the curtain came down on Saturday night I had the impression my evenings and weekends would suddenly be deliciously clear. I could not have been more wrong.

Apologies if I miss your event off the list, but events so far this month include St Edmund’s Wheel; Thetford Open Gardens; The Women’s Tour; Euston Rural Pastimes; Bury Hidden Garden; the Zena 10 launch day, Cars on the Green . . . and the list goes on.

Next month, I already have Moreton Hall Open Gardens in the diary, as well as Women on Wheels; the Beers, Bands and Beat It! festival in Hockwold; plus the annual It’s a Knockout on Hardwick Heath at the end of the month. And I couldn’t possibly list all the village and school fetes which pop up left, right and centre over the summer.

Not that I am complaining – I think it’s wonderful so many events take place in every community. But what strikes me about them all is that they only exist because some people get off their backsides and MAKE them happen.

Often events are organised by small teams of volunteers who put in months of thought, time and effort. This week, I was talking to Mike Bowen, who is organising a charity shoe sale a little further afield, in Diss. While anyone who goes along on the day might bag themselves a bargain, they might not realise the sale has been in the planning since January, when Mike drove around 66 villages and towns putting up posters and setting up shoe collection points. He then revisited them weekly collecting donations. As the mountain of shoes grew he asked a local firm to donate storage to enable him and his wife Lesley to sort and clean almost 1,000 pairs. Now that is commitment.

While I will enjoy all events I attend this summer, I’ll also spare a thought for the people like Mike, working hard behind the scenes and making a difference.