Some Shorts

Suffolk One, the new sixth form centre on London Road but just outside the Borough, was awarded 'Best Educational building' in the 2011 East Anglia Building Excellence Awards. It features solar water heating and a ground heat recovery system.

St Mary at the Elms Church is being lovingly restored after the fire which broke out in its early Tudor tower in July of last year. Scaffolding fills the interior space so that the wooden beams and plaster of the roof can be restored. Church services continue to be held in this, one of the most homely of our twelve medieval churches.

Giles Circus should be a leafy new public space. But the five semi-mature trees planted last year show results of the drought. The tree nearest to Butter Market is thriving because that's the way the drainage flows. The others are under-nourished. More loving care needed?

Azerbaijan won the European Song Contest. Will its Olympic team, based in and practising in Ipswich, break out into song as they explore and enjoy our town centre?

Suffolk Youth Theatre was one of the region's truly outstanding cultural assets with its productions at the New Wolsey Theatre directed by Michael Platt. Metamorphosis, put on earlier than usual and at Dance East, was its last full-scale production because of withdrawal of funding. Sadly, the shape of things to come?

Ipswich Town Centre Walking Map should be a great help to visitors - and useful to locals as well? It emphasises the north-south axis to show the proximity of the Waterfront to the town centre. Rightly, it includes the Museum and the Mansion, but being on a large scale has to exclude Portman Road and DCS/Suffolk New College. Copies at the TIC and some shops.

A 'vintage market' was held on the Waterfront on Sunday, 15 May; it proved a popular attraction (photo below). Such events help to assure the public that this is a developing and changing part of the town. Look out for publicity about the ambitious Maritime Festival on 21-22 August, organised by IBC and with many participants.