Heritage Open Days 2017

Why is it that Heritage Open Days is so successful in Ipswich, attracting visitors from across the country and across the pond? I met a couple of ladies who had come up from East London on the train to see what Ipswich had to offer. They try and ‘do' an East Anglian town every year and having been to Cambridge, Kings Lynn and Bury decided to come to Ipswich. Their verdict ‘Ipswich is the best yet'.

The real positive news is that most of these thousands of visitors spent their money in Ipswich businesses - not on French Fudge or Belgian Chocolate (as they did at the Maritime Festival) but on sandwiches, cups of tea and ice cream from businesses located right here in town.

I have no idea how many people were enjoying the opportunity to look inside someone else's bus, building or boat, nor any idea how much each of them spent but it was perfectly clear walking around that there was more economic activity on the peripherals of the town centre than there is on a usual Saturday.

The Ipswich Society is pleased - and proud - to contribute to the growing success of the town, and to put a smile on a thousand faces. And why is it so successful? Because of the time and effort put in by the team of volunteers who started back in April writing to the venues and were still clearing away deflated balloons on Monday evening. My thanks to every one of them.

John Norman

Some comments:

I visited Ipswich for the first time on Sunday to attend the Heritage Festival and I just want to say how much I enjoyed my day, spending time in buildings spanning several centuries, 3-5 Slient Street, the Unitarian Meeting House, the Masonic Hall and the Willis building. Thank you so much for organising the weekend. I can't wait for next year to travel on the vintage bus!

Christine Armstrong

And at Mutual House…

“Just wanted to say a massive ‘congratulations' on such a successful weekend. I unfortunately wasn't able to make it myself, however friends I have spoken to said it was very well organised and very interesting. Best wishes,” Louise Quinton, Business Development, Carter Builders

“Just a quick email to express my thanks to you for all your help in getting us open for the Heritage Open Days weekend and for all the promotion you did.

The weekend was a tremendous success and we estimate we saw somewhere between 400-500 people through the doors over the two days and received a great number of positive comments.

Brenda Sutton was also an absolute superstar and I think we have a genuine celebrity on our hands, I caught up with her this morning to thank her for her time and she mentioned you had been talking about doing a follow up article on her! Many thanks once again,” Tom Jell, Ipswich Building Society [See next article…]