G'Day Ed Sheeran: Ipswich Down Under wants gig too

Teresa Harding, mayor of Ipswich, in Australia, visited the Thomas Wolsey pub, in Ipswich, in the UK, after Ed Sheeran's pop-up gig earlier this year

A dignitary from Down Under visited an Ipswich pub where Ed Sheeran performed a special show to invite him to do the same in Ipswich, Australia.

Teresa Harding, who is the mayor of the Queensland namesake, headed to the Thomas Wolsey in Suffolk, where the singer-songwriter performed in May.

The pub was renamed the Old Phone after one of his latest singles, before being transformed into a Sheeran-themed pop-up again in July for his Portman Road shows.

During the visit, Mrs Harding met with landlord Damon Jeffery and tasked him with delivering an official invitation to the Framlingham schoolboy-turned superstar.

During the visit Mrs Harding presented Mr Jeffery with an invitation, which she wants him to give to Ed Sheeran

The regal-looking document, presented in a black leather folder, "cordially invites Edward Christopher Sheeran to Ipswich, Queensland, Australia".

While he does "not have Ed on speed-dial", Mr Jeffery said he is hopeful of helping make the gig – 10,208 miles (16,428km) away from where he pulls pints - happen.

"I am calling in a few little favours… so I pretty much guarantee Ed Sheeran will get this invite in the next fortnight," he told the BBC.

The visit came about after Mrs Harding heard Mr Jeffery, who was himself born about 20 miles away from Ipswich in Australia, interviewed on an Australian radio show.

Mr Jeffery said Mrs Harding was "a really cool lady" and he was "blown away" by her visit

"I kept saying to her, 'You genuinely haven't come just to see me have you? I just run a pub', and she said I was her complete main reason for coming," he added.

"She paid for the trip out of her own money and came to give us this official invite – it was leatherbound, with an official seal on and beautiful writing.

"Later in the evening, she came back and had a few beers with us and the locals – we had a laugh and mucked around and she was a really cool lady.

"I was just blessed and blown away; it was amazing."

Mrs Harding told the BBC it was "a real joy" to spend time with Mr Jeffery and said she was "confident" he would be able to put a good word in with Sheeran for her.

"When we saw Ed had played pop-up gigs in Ipswichs around the world, we started dreaming about Ed visiting our Ipswich," she said.

"Though oceans separate us, there is a special bond between our communities and what better way to strengthen that connection than by bringing Ed Sheeran to our Ipswich.

"Ipswich is calling and we hope that Ed will answer - it would be an unforgettable moment for our community."