I popped into town last week for a meeting and found myself in the middle of a photographic exhibition. I'd arranged to meet for coffee in the Town Hall Tea Room and having arrived almost 30 minutes early, I was rather pleased to find something to occupy my time. It also meant I could tick off my 'something cultural' resolution for this month without even having to try (or spend a single penny).

The exhibition is a project by Gavin King, a local photographer, called 1000 Faces. It aims to capture the differences and individuality of the people of Ipswich, the diversity and community that goes beyond age, race or ethnicity.


It was six months in the making and I have to say I found it thoroughly engaging. I love portrait photography and found that the more I looked the more I wanted to keep looking. I watched as others came in and looked, some searching for their own photo, others spotting friends. The person I was meeting was included, somewhere, but we couldn't find her.


The town hall is the perfect place to hold this exhibition, it's a beautiful building and the location of our Fairy World Record attempt last year, so I'll always have a soft spot for it.

Before the Town Hall Tea Room was opened it used to be home to an independent coffee shop, which was just fabulous, it quickly became one of my favourite places in the town. Since it's changed hands it's lost almost all of it's charm which is such a shame.


On the up side it's not normally busy and it's reasonably priced, but personally I like a place with a nice atmosphere and chatty staff. Still, now I know it's worth popping in once in a while to see what adorns the walls.

I haven't spent much time in the town centre recently so I think I need to go exploring to see what else I can find. Walking through a part of Ipswich last week, that I hadn't visited in years, meant that I found three new charity shops and a place to take a short workshop in patchwork quilting.

The 1000 Faces exhibition is on until March 1st if you fancy going along.