Superstar Ed Sheeran has made a ‘founding gift’ to help launch Suffolk Community Foundation’s ‘Rebuilding Local Lives Appeal’ in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The appeal has a £2 million target – find out how you can help
Suffolk Day is extra special for Suffolk Magazine this year – it’s our 20th anniversary.
We’ve been proudly celebrating the best of life in Suffolk since June 2000, telling you about the people that make our county great, sharing their creative endeavours, urging you to explore the county’s heritage, coast, countryside, wildlife and wild places and enjoy the thousands of events that take place throughout the year.
And since Suffolk Day burst into life in 2017, we’ve joined with BBC Radio Suffolk and the East Anglian Daily Times, in championing a day of county-wide celebration.
Now a firm fixture on the calendar, it’s become a day for celebrating the county’s achievements, great and small, for saluting our remarkable people – even awarding a medal to one outstanding citizen – and for reminding ourselves just how lucky we are to live and work in such a beautiful, unspoilt environment.
It’s also a day when a lot of money gets raised for charity through a profusion of events from sponsored walks, to office bake-offs and giant tea parties.
And this year the county has received an incredible helping hand from superstar Ed Sheeran who has made a ‘founding gift’ to launch Suffolk Community Foundation’s ‘Rebuilding Local Lives Appeal’.
SCF’s new appeal is underpinned by the Suffolk Coronavirus Community partnership which includes the National Emergencies Trust (NET), East Anglian Daily Times, Community Action Suffolk, Suffolk Association of Local Councils, Suffolk County Council, District and Borough Councils, BBC Radio Suffolk and all those involved in Suffolk’s ‘Home But Not Alone’ initiative.
It is hoped that the Re-Building Local Lives Appeal will deliver more local giving to the Suffolk Coronavirus Community Fund, which has been created and delivered by the foundation. SCF said the founding gift from Ed Sheeran “moves everything a big step towards ‘Team Suffolk’ breaking through the fund’s £2million fundraising target”.
SCF head of public affairs Tim Holder said Ed’s visibility as a supporter would boost the foundation’s ability to raise awareness of the fund and this new appeal. “Now we can inspire even more people to support Suffolk charities and community groups to get Suffolk lives back on track as we come out of lockdown,” he said.
The Suffolk Coronavirus Community Fund was created three months ago and has already raised and distributed over £1.2 million, supporting the work of over 230 Suffolk charities and community groups and reaching over 120,000 vulnerable people in the midst of the county’s fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
Funds raised from the ‘Rebuilding Local Lives Appeal’ will quickly reach Suffolk charities and community groups via Community Foundation grants programmes.
Donations can be made online here and by phone on the appeal hotline 01473 786911 (weekday working hours).
Read how Suffolk’s food and drink businesses are surviving the lockdown
20 memorable Suffolk years
2000 – Ipswich Town wins at Wembley. After finishing third in the First Division in 1999–2000 season, victory in the play-offs secured them a place in the Premier League.
2001 – The Suffolk Show is cancelled, for the first time in peacetime, because of foot and mouth disease.
2002 – The Queen visits Ipswich, Stowmarket and Bury St Edmunds as part of her Golden Jubilee celebrations.
2003 – August 10, temperatures reach 37.3°C in Suffolk, an all time record. Maggi Hambling’s Scallop sculpture is unveiled on Aldeburgh beach.
2004 – Euston Estate, home to the Duke and Duchess of Grafton at Euston Hall, hosts the first East Anglian Game & Country Fair
2005 – Eye Theatre, the region’s smallest, closes after 14 years of performances.
2006 – Latitude Festival launches – putting Suffolk on the festival map. For the past 14 years, Henham Park near Southwold has hosted the world’s best musicians, comedians, writers, poets and performers.
2007 – University of Suffolk is established, originally as University Campus Suffolk (UCS) in Ipswich.
2008 – In Bury St Edmunds, the Arc shopping centre is opened and strange lights – thought to be a UFO – are spotted in the sky above the Cathedral.
2009 – Suffolk New College is founded and constructs a new building costing £70million.
2010 – The route of the Tour of Britain cycle race takes in Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex for the first time.
2011 – At Ipswich Museum, Rosie the rhino’s horn is stolen. She’s given a replica the following year.
2012 – The Duchess of Cambridge, patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices, opens the Treehouse hospice in Ipswich.
2013 – October 27, Storm St Jude hits Suffolk with winds of up to about 80mph, bringing down trees and power lines and leaving thousands of homes without electricity. In December, a storm surge wreaks havoc along the Suffolk coast.
2014 – RSPB Minsmere hosts BBC’s Springwatch
2015 – Duke of Cambridge begins flying for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.
2016 – In summer, Ipswich hosts its first Wild in Art trail, Pigs Gone Wild, which raises £200,000 for St Elizabeth Hospice.
2017 – Suffolk Walking Festival celebrates its 10th birthday.
2018 – Ipswich unveils a multi-million pound revamp of the Cornhill to rejuvenate the town centre
2019 – Ed Sheeran returns to his home county to perform three concerts in Chantry Park, Ipswich, to more than 40,000 people each night.
2020 – Ed Sheeran makes a founding gift to help launch Suffolk Community Foundation’s ‘Rebuilding Local Lives Appeal’ in response to the Coronavirus pandemic.
