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Dear *|FNAME1|*,

An Active Summer

After the restrictions of lockdown the Society burst back to life through the spring and summer months with member activities including:

• Litter picks at Pegwell Bay, Jackey Baker Field and Chine to Chine

• Submissions on The Levelling Up Fund and Manston Further Consultations

• Helping to Repair the Shelters and the Festival Fountain

• Generating funds for emergency repairs to the Clock House

• Reopening the Maritime Museum – entirely staffed by our volunteers

• Caring for the 50 trees planted by the Society

• Issuing a bumper-sized Ramsgate Matters magazine to members

• Providing a Talks Programme on heritage subjects for the Festival of Sound

• Curating the guide to Heritage Open Days across Thanet

None of this would be possible without our income from membership fees and an active core of volunteers. If you have more that you feel you could give as a volunteer please contact us with a short note on the areas that interest you.

Terry Prue

Ramsgate Society Communications Lead

Our Next Litter Pick: Chine to Chine – 10 October

The Ramsgate Society’s next Litter Pick will take place on Sunday 10th October 2021 from 10am to 12noon from the Clock House in the harbour.

This will be in collaboration with the Ramsgate Litter Forum and will be part of a series of Thanet-wide clean up activities taking place in October.

The assembly point is the Clock House / Maritime Museum in the harbour and it is hoped that we will be joined by many of you. As with all the previous events, we look forward to seeing local groups, the Sea Cadets and the Guides, local residents and members of the Ramsgate Society to make this another successful litter pick.

Please arrive before 10am for a Health and Safety briefing which will be revised in line with the latest Covid 19 Restrictions as well as guidance on litter picking. High viz jackets, litter picks and sacks will be provided courtesy of Ramsgate Town Council and Thanet District Council.

Do come and join us. It’s a very worthwhile activity and it’s also great fun. Contact me on 07792 423775 for more information.

Meher Basit

The Civic Champion Awards 2020

The Ramsgate Society Civic Champion Award is a special award given to local people who, in the opinion of the Society’s Executive Committee, have made an exceptional contribution to the quality of life in the town. In this Covid year there have been some extraordinary examples of people who by their unselfish efforts have made a huge difference to the lives of many peoples. In this year of the Covid Pandemic the Committee have made three awards.

• Cara Thorpe: for her work at the Newington Community Centre.

• Carl Whitewood: for his work at the Salvation Army Foodbank.

• Sharon Goodyer: for her work at Our Kitchen.

Each of these winners have told us that they would have been unable to do any of this without the teams of volunteers who support them, and in accepting the awards they do so for their teams as much as for themselves.

Now that the Covid Restrictions have been lifted the Mayor of Ramsgate, Councillor Raushan Ara will be presenting the Awards on Sat 16th October at the Custom House.

John Walker and Sue Gyde

Future Society Talks

Following our return with three successful talks as part of the Ramsgate Festival of Sound, the next dates are September 25th and 26th to support the Royal Harbour of Ramsgate 200 Year Anniversary Festival. These are all at The Royal Temple Yacht Club and the same programme runs on both days at the same times so you can join the each event on either day.

Brian Daubney at 11:50am

Our Ramsgate Matters editor, Brian, will present on Ramsgate’s Extraordinary Epic Harbour; a 45-minute journey from death, horror and disaster, through to heroism and triumphs of design and technology, revealing a harbour you may love but may never have known.

Free tickets must be booked in advance.

Jacqui Ansell at 1pm

Friend of the Society, Jacqui, will present on Fashionable Ramsgate: ‘Life at the Seaside’ and use art and illustration to chart the origins and development of the town from a small fishing village to a tourist destination with a bustling Royal Harbour.

Free tickets must be booked in advance.

Terry & Janet Prue at 2:30pm

We will explore The Murky Waters Behind Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour using satirical cartoons and writing that provide lesser-known insights on personalities and circumstances that led to our Royal title.

Free tickets must be booked in advance.

N.B. We also need volunteers to help promote the Society at other times in the Festival – please get in touch if you think you might be able to help on the door at any of these sessions.

An Apology from Ramsgate Matters

The next issue will not be exclusively celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Royal Harbour, nor the 2,075th years since Caesar’s invasion, nor the Roman quay under the present harbour.

The fact is that from the Neolithic period, Thanet had a relatively huge number of burial sites by waterways and that the main route across Europe from the Channel to the Thames and Britain, called the Great Crosssroads included the cleft in Ramsgate Cliffs and extended to Ritupieae, Sandwich, Sarre, the Downs and Wantsum. This suggests Ramsgate may have had a continuous history on this leading maritime route for as long as four thousand years. Research at many levels continues.

Brian Daubney

Nelson Crescent and Paragon Shelter Appeal

The Nelson Crescent Residents Assn. is going to renovate the shelters on Nelson Crescent and The Paragon and sent us this request for help:

We need to clean, treat for rust, fill in worn wood areas, and prepare for painting. If you are able to help please email Davena Green.

Even if you do not want to get messy you could help by making tea!!! We will start from 10am on the Monday 27th September (weather permitting). We will provide all the materials – but if you have ladders or trestles that would be very useful. The last time we did it, on the Eastcliff, and believe it or not we had quite a good fulfilling time.

If you could help with good advice and information that would be great too.

Davena Green

Update on the Ramsgate Heritage Action Zone (HAZ)

The Ramsgate HAZ Project is nearing the end of its 4th year of a 5-year programme. The Heritage Action Zone in Ramsgate is delivering a range of projects that are engaging the local community and is increasing our understanding of the rich local heritage, including the exciting maritime story. Over the five-year project, teams within Historic England have been working in partnership with local organisations to understand what makes the heritage in Ramsgate really special, to share the findings and stories, and to protect and improve places for the future. A great deal of work has been going on and members might like to get a better sense of what’s been happening “behind the scenes” by reading this recent update from Louisa Hrabowy, the Ramsgate HAZ Project Officer at TDC.

To read her report click here

Contact the Ramsgate Society

If you have any queries about or for the Society please get in touch N.B. 2021 membership is now due – if you have any membership queries also use this link to ask about it.

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