Ipswich Country Market is looking to grow and prosper, with the help of University of Suffolk marketing students.

East Anglian Daily Times: producers Maria Shaw, Sue Butcher and Janet Pearseproducers Maria Shaw, Sue Butcher and Janet Pearse (Image: Archant)

It is a funny old thing; here we are in a society where so much of what we consume is mass-produced, yet there is a growing group of people who grow their own, cook their own and turn to crafts to make their own.

You only have to look at the popularity of the Great British Bake-Off and the Great Pottery Throw-Down on TV to see that.

I know a lot of people who have picked up traditional crafts to make things for themselves, and their families, in recent times.

In Ipswich too there is a co-operative of people who are turning their hobbies and interests into profit, the Ipswich Country Market.

East Anglian Daily Times: Cooking producers, from left to right, Maria Shaw, Janet Pearse (market manager) and Sue ButcherCooking producers, from left to right, Maria Shaw, Janet Pearse (market manager) and Sue Butcher (Image: Archant)

They are makers of food and crafts, growers of plants and have a vaariety of other interests.

Their wares range from savoury bakes to pickles and preserves, various practical gifts, knitwear and crafts.

Member Carol Ottley said: “We are a group of local people who cook, craft and grow at home and come together to sell our goods at a weekly market.”

The market, which meets on Thursdays, approached the University of Suffolk to see whether it might make a `real’ study for marrketing students, to investigate ways of promoting and growing the business.

“Lecturer in Marketing, Dr Mario Siglioccolo, was excited by the project and so I went, as a representative from the market to the University to present our co-operative, Ipswich Country Market (a member of country markets nationwide) to explain our business to them and our request for help. We wanted their ideas to find new customers for our market,to retain old ones and promote ourselves more effectively, all with no marketing budget. We have tried many traditional methods of free marketing over the years so they would have to be very creative to come up with something that we hadn’t tried before.

“A brief was set, some students visited the market and small groups of students made presentations with their research and suggestions. The winning team had many new suggestions for us to try while covering the vital components of their BA course, management reputation module.”

Subsequently, the winning team of students were presented with a small hamper of goods from the market.

Lecturer Dr Mario Siglioccolo said: “Working with real case studies is an opportunity to put in practice what has been learnt during the module. The partnership with the Ipswich Country Market enables us to realise this and to engage our students actively, and develop their relational and problem-solving skills. This goes hand in hand with the Business School concept: to make students ‘business ready’ and immediately employable at all levels within a wide range of organisations.”

Carol Ottley is a designer of clothes and accessories.

She added: “We are always happy to hear from new contributors and makers,”

The Ipswich Country Market takes place on Thursdays, from 10.15am to 11.15am, at Rushmere Village Hall in Humber Doucy Lane, on the edge of Ipswich.

www.ipswichcountrymarket.co.uk