The smell of cakes wafted invitingly from the door of the Imperial Hall in Epworth on the morning of Saturday 15 November 2008.  Unfortunately, the shoppers of Epworth were not being tempted to follow their noses and partake of a warming cup of coffee and a slice of cake at a coffee morning held to raise funds for the Isle based Kidscap Club.

The Rotary Club of Epworth and the Isle is never to be defeated however.  Rotarian Carol Walsh visited all  the shops in the town, Sue Lambert got out her address book & phone and Kidscap organiser, Phil Bradley, carried trays of cakes through the streets like a sweet-toothed pied piper bringing customers into the Hall.

Cakes were available to eat inside with a hot drink, or to take away, along with a variety of preserves and crafts and there was also the opportunity to bag a bottle of wine in a tombola with a twist.

Behind the scenes Debbie, Andrea and the Purple Hand Gang made light work of serving customers whilst Julie fought with the chocolate cakes and Simon chatted knowledgeably about the merits of Millionaire’s shortbread (!!) and after just 3 short hours of what the Rotary Club of Epworth and the Isle likes best – chatting, eating and drinking - £445.76 had been raised for Kidscap.

Kidscap is a bi-monthly activities club for children with a range of disabilities and learning difficulties, which aims to give the children 3 hours of organised play whilst affording parents and siblings some much needed time to do other things or just the opportunity to chat to other parents in similar situations.  The sessions take place at Epworth leisure centre but the nature of the children’s disabilities mean that a high ratio of carers to children is required, which is, of course, expensive and so whilst each session costs parents around £10 including lunch for the children, the real costs are around £ 300 per session.