December is the busiest time of year for the Rotary Club of Epping. It started with our members manning a collection in Tesco Epping for the Epping Forest Foodbank. Nearly one tonne in food and £340 in cash was collected for the Foodbank, a tremendous result that will help many families.

Mid-December saw the first of our Santa’s Sleigh rounds, where Santa visits houses in Epping, North Weald and Theydon Bois bringing cheer to young and old alike. As part of this, the Sleigh visited Norway House Homeless Hostel in North Weald. There are 49 families and 73 children living there while waiting for permanent housing, and the children were excited and delighted to see Santa bring bags of presents. Along with collections on Epping High Street and at Epping Tesco, the sleigh normally brings in over £6,000 to allow us to give grants to local charities. We are eternally grateful to local residents for their generosity.

Our biggest audience of the year is to be found at Carols on the Green at 3.30 pm on Christmas Eve. It’s a free event, co-organised by the Rotary Club of Epping Forest, and everyone is welcome to come along to the green outside the Catholic Church in Epping. Local residents are led by the choir and orchestra from Epping St John’s School in singing carols while eating mince pies.

The Rotary Club of Epping meets at Restobistro, 82 High Street, Epping, on Tuesdays at 1pm.

The club contact is Richard on 07981 005925 or eppingrotary@btinternet.com. Visit www.eppingrotary.org.uk for information.