Back in 2011/12 the Ramsgate Society restored the 14 Listed seafront shelters with a grant of £450,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. At that time the Society was granted a 12-year lease on the shelters by Thanet District Council, who own the asset, with an obligation to maintain the shelters in good condition.
That lease expires in May 2023 and discussions about the future maintenance of the shelters have begun. One option being considered is that ownership of the asset is transferred from TDC to Ramsgate Town Council and that the Society continue to play a major part in partnership with RTC in maintaining the shelters going forward.
During the Summer Davena Green, Vice President of the Society has been working with a small team of volunteers to redecorate the four shelters in The Paragon and Nelson Crescent and these are now looking very good.
We are also planning to redecorate the five shelters on the East Cliff which suffered badly from vandalism during the Covid Pandemic and are currently in a sorry state. Before they can be redecorated there is a great deal of preparatory work to be done. Some of the timbers are rotten and need replacing and there is a lot of rust in the metal frames that needs removing and treating before painting can begin. The Society is employing a specialist to replace any rotten timber and remove the rust on the window frames in preparation for decoration.
We are planning to start this preparation work early in October and once completed we will be looking for some volunteers to help with the painting.
If you would be interesting in volunteering to help with this please contact our secretary.
Interested volunteers to be invited to an informal meeting for a briefing before we start the work and we will then liaise with Ramsgate Glass regarding the reglazing of the shelters on completion of redecoration.
Once the East Cliff Shelters have been repaired and repainted we will be turning our attention, in the Spring of next year, to the larger shelters on the Westcliff which are also in need of attention.
John Walker