SELFLESS volunteers are celebrating after carrying out good deeds in the town for the past century.

The Rotary Club of Colchester will be marking 100 years of keeping the community together and going above and beyond to make a difference with its projects.

From the Avenue of Remembrance and the first blood bank in Colchester to a hospice in St Petersburg and a clinic in Malawi, Rotarians have a lot to be proud of.

For the past 30 years, they have also played Santa to thousands of children in need by teaming up with department stores to collect toys.

The club has also supported the community group the Anti Loo Roll Brigade by jointly funding a van to deliver parcels to vulnerable residents during lockdown.

Over the past three years Colchester volunteers have also partnered with Rotary clubs abroad, including in Bielefeld, Germany, and Zwolle, the Netherlands, to fund a clinic in Malawi.

Nigel Hildreth, who is the Colchester Rotary Club president for 2022/2023, said: “Our recent Christmas collections raised over £7,000 which will again go to local charities and will support food parcels and children going out on clubs.

“Alongside all of this Rotary supports the End Polio Now campaign and we recently held a dinner dance where over £3,000 was raised for this cause.

“We just have a common purpose on wanting to help others.

“Rotary is all about working together and having fun while doing these things. “ Volunteers have literally shaped the way the Colchester community looks - in 1972 Rotarian Bernard Mason even purchased and presented the Mercury Theatre with the statue that stands at the top of the building today.

To mark their centenary, the club will host a Rotary Festival of Music and Drama at The Headgate Theatre on March 26 and 27 and celebrate Rotary musicians at Colchester Arts Centre on July 8.

The club will also give away a goody bag to anyone in Colchester who was born in 1922.

To nominate them, email secretary@colchesterrotary.org.uk