One Tuesday afternoon towards the end of October 2023, I went to Prosper to do some writing without a certain cat walking on the keyboard. I love cats, but they’re terrible typists.

When I walked in, Phil and Rachel were being interviewed. They said hello to me, then paused the interview while they served me one of their delicious drinks. It turned out that Sue Marchant was interviewing them for her Spotted in Ely podcast series. When they got back to the interview Phil mentioned that they hosted various groups, including Ely Writers – with another mention of me!

The resulting podcast tells the listener how Prosper started, why it’s called Prosper, and what, other than delicious drinks and tasty treats, is on offer. It’s well worth a listen.

When they finished, Sue was interested to learn more about Ely Writers, so we chatted for a while. She suggested doing a podcast about Ely Writers. I was a bit hesitant at first – it’s well outside my comfort zone, but I agreed. I roped in our resident zombie apocalypse guy, Greg, to do it with me. Greg was instrumental in restarting the in-person meetings.

Sue was travelling for a while after we met, so we didn’t arrange anything until the new year. We met in Prosper – where else! – on 23 January 2024 to record the podcast.

It’s fair to say that Greg and I were a bit nervous, but Sue soon put us at ease. Her presence was calming, and she has a way of asking questions that make it seem more like a conversation, a chat, than an interview.

We chatted a bit more when we’d finished recording, and she said it would appear later that day, which it did. You can find it at Ely Writers – Spotted in Ely – Sue Marchant’s podcast.