What is Ipswich Umbrella?
It is a project to occupy one of the empty shops in Ipswich (currently 5, Buttermarket, just near Waterstones) to use it for community activities, with a focus on sustainability, resilience, sharing and learning.
What does that mean?
We offer things like a Repair Cafe, talks and discussions, creative workshops, educational workshops, home energy transition guidance, Library of Things, refill hub, reading group, community noticeboard, free meeting spaces.
What happens in this space depends on those involved.
How far have you got?
We have found premises and we have some money to enable the first few months of opening, and we have a small enthusiastic team working to make things happen. We have had out opening (February 2026) and some of the groups are up and running.
What does Ipswich Umbrella need?
It needs more people with ideas and enthusiasm to join us – we need people with skills (fundraising, marketing, IT and tech), we need people with time (to keep the premises open and help run the place) – we also need people without skills and with limited time who are just interested and think this is a good idea…
Ipswich Umbrella 