Dear <<First Name>>,

Welcome to the Ramsgate Society August Newsletter. We are sending this out both at the start of the month and in rather truncated form due to holidays. We are also emailing everyone on our mailing lists – whether or not the annual subscription for 2022 has been paid. If this is the first newsletter you have received for a while and would like to become a paid-up member or just to check your current situation then contact our Society Secretary, Graham Woolnough.

Another Full House for a Ramsgate Society Talk

Photo: Mike Goldwater

Our July talk from Agostina Campodonico on the Sandwich and Pegwell Bay National Nature Reserve was an acknowledged delight and we hope many of you will join Aggie and her team at their 70-year celebration day of activities this Saturday August 6th. Details are on the events page of our website: ramsgate-society.org.uk

Ramsgate Society Events at the Ramsgate Festival of Sound

We continue to support the Ramsgate Festival by adding our own talks into their programme of events that, this year, runs from August 26th to September 4th.

Ramsgate Society members are, of course, still entitled to attend our talks for free but there will be a request for voluntary donations towards the costs of the Festival. As always, we do ask everyone to reserve a place in advance so we can control numbers attending. Through this newsletter we are sending Society members and friends the opportunity to book in advance of notification to the general public.

Festival Talk 1 – Maggie Gee on her new novel ‘The Red Children’

Wednesday August 31st

Photo: Nick Rankin

This is what the website Goodreads said about Maggie’s latest novel: ‘Set in a world in crisis, this original, gripping fable about migration and global warming restores belief in the power of human kindness.’ What exactly is it about? This was Maggie’s reply: ‘Who were the Neanderthals, & what do they have to teach us? Long before and long after the Romans landed near us, migrants from Europe, including Neanderthals, have come to Kent. What if they returned?’

If you have not read it yet, expect it to be international in the scope of ideas but firmly set in our town and built upon Maggie’s extensive knowledge of Ramsgate history, its landmarks and its people.

Her talk takes place at 7pm on August 31st at the Royal Temple Yacht Club. Places must be reserved in advance on the Eventbrite site. Doors open at 6:30pm. A voluntary donation of £3 is requested to help funding for the Festival.

Festival Talk 2 – Rob Kenyon and Kevin O’Connor on plans for Granville House and the Arts Barge

Friday September 2nd

As event organisers ourselves we are very aware that Ramsgate is lacking in creative spaces and indoor venues so we are particularly pleased to welcome the leaders of two social enterprise not-for-profit organisations with ambitions to fill the gap through major renovation projects.

Rob Kenyon is CEO and Founder of Heritage Lab CIC which has an overall aim to help regenerate Ramsgate and to support the local community and creative sector. One of their headline ambitions is to take over and renovate the currently unused public spaces within Granville House.

Kevin O’Connor is Director of the Ramsgate Arts Barge CIC which has ambitions to create a new multi-faceted arts and cultural space on a 133-year old Dutch barge permanently moored in Ramsgate Harbour.

To hear and to be able to ask questions about their plans and (hopefully) their progress you must reserve a place on the Eventbrite site. Doors open at 6:30pm. A voluntary donation of £3 is requested to help funding for the Festival.

Contact the Ramsgate Society

If you have any queries about or for the Society please get in touch

Members with events, workshops or news that you would like the Society to consider featuring in its newsletter please contact: news@ramsgate-society.org.uk