We are one of the few places in Britain to have been touched by the 1960s but not destroyed.

We defy the worst of the national trends. Most small market towns have lost most of their shops, we continue to thrive. We have a great mixture of independent shops (good ones, too) and national names. A survey ten years ago found Sudbury to be the best-performing town centre in the country.

Yet Sudbury is not a ghastly middle-class enclave like so many of its peers. It's a social mix, an industrial town with a very mixed economy. It's not the sort of place that young people have to leave because there are no jobs.

The community is fantastic. There are a couple of hundred voluntary groups. How many other communities are there where the business community and conservationists are fighting for the same things? This alone makes us almost unique.

We have a live music scene that's the envy of towns ten times our size: there are six pubs featuring very good rock groups (for all ages from 18 to over 60), plus at least three in Melford, three folk groups, great jazz and open mic sessions in the villages and frequent concerts.

John McMillan is president of Sudbury and District Chamber of Commerce and Industry