On 10th August we press send on one of the most ambitious and exciting funding bids I’ve ever been part of. I’ve written and read more funding bids than I’ve had hot dinners, but nothing has ever felt quite as extraordinary as developing this bid for City of Culture. I’d been working on phase 2 of the culture and heritage strategy since the autumn, building on early work led by IBC last year. We sent the bid themes out through those networks and collected up the ideas and proposals that flowed back from across Ipswich. The director is now asking communities and businesses to add their names to letters of support for the bid.