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With the Society in only its third year of existence and the achievement of Newsletter No. 2 (reviewed in our last issue), we move on to the next one. There is a leap in size from quarto to foolscap for No. 3, May 1963, and for the next six issues, too. Apologies are offered for the AGM and talk on 'Planned expansion of existing towns' by Mr Leonard G. Vincent which is postponed until June, for the Ipswich Society Exhibition delayed until October and for the Thetford visit which will now take place in July.

A report follows of a Special General Meeting on 22 March featuring "A short film of the Cornhill in 1930 ... shown by Mr Don Chipperfield [which] caused some amused comments on the changed traffic conditions which have come to Ipswich in 33 years."

"The subject of 'The Sailors Rest' provoked the most lively discussion of the evening. There was a strong feeling among some that a campaign for the preservation of this unique Ipswich building should be a major event for the Society. This was not agreed as such, but the Hon. Secretary was asked to write to the Corporation and to the local press, making clear that the Ipswich Society was firmly in favour of the retention of 'The Sailor's Rest' as a civic amenity of architectural worth.

"Subsequent to the publication of the letter from the Hon. Secretary, the 'Evening Star' carried a very good article on the topic and, although the future of 'The Sailor's Rest' is still in the balance, the arguments have been quite clearly stated and it is to be hoped that the Corporation will be successful in its attempts to find a solution to the problems surrounding the preservation of the building.

"One of the most significant points about this whole matter is that 'The Sailor's Rest' was included in a list of those buildings in Ipswich considered as important enough to preserve: a list compiled by the Museums Committee of the Town Council about the time that Mr Chipperfield's film was made!"

Under the heading 'Activities of the Groups', we read that while the Rivers Group was gratified that one of their suggestions (a weir to be built near Stoke Bridge) formed part of the Gipping Orwell Improvement Scheme approved in April by the East Suffolk and Norfolk Rivers Board for submission to the Ministry of Agriculture, "The Streets Improvement Group has not found that its suggestions for the Cornhill are immediately and completely acceptable to the Corporation..."

Once again, thanks to Tony Hill for the use of his archive. Perhaps unsurprisingly, no reader has come forward with Newsletter No. 1; it is missing from the Suffolk Record Office file, too.

Robin Gaylard