Dear Ipswich, I trust you are well.
I love your continuity. Call it faithfulness.
Ever since those early days, when you were my little ‘Gippeswyke’ (do you remember?) and the Anglo-Saxons settled on the banks of the river, you have been here, a stable presence in this corner of England.
There are young people, with energy and enthusiasm, and older people with experience, all from diverse backgrounds and cultures
I love walking through your streets because I only have to look up to see the old buildings with their overhanging, timbered storeys, the old glass in the oriel windows, the fancy pargetting or the buildings with their Classical ornamentation.
They remind me that you do not abandon your old citizens while making way for the new. It’s a great quality. And it’s all the more important, my dear, because it’s time for a bit of a change. Don’t you agree? We don’t want our relationship to grow stale.
Together, we can breathe new life into our wonderfully rich heritage. There are young people, with energy and enthusiasm, and older people with experience, all from diverse backgrounds and cultures, who are just waiting for you to shake yourself down and give the nod so we can start planning, making, planting, and reviving. You’ve done it before, reinventing yourself as times change.
You can do it again. I promise you, Ipswich my love, the 21st century could be your finest yet!
Your devoted citizen, David
David Matthews
Churchwarden of St Mary le Tower
