£2 Ramsgate Matters
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£2 Ramsgate Matters The Quarterly Journal of The Ramsgate Society Autumn 2016 Ramsgate Matters Chairman’s Report, August 2016 Contents 2. Aims New Members Chairman’s Report 4. Signs and Significance 5. Ramsgate Rewritten 7. Elizabeth Fry: Terry Prue 9. M Blaker 11. DBA 13. Remembering Ramsgate Impressarios 14. Taking it on the chin As I write this report the Ramsgate Festival is in full Who am I ? swing with dozens of events taking place throughout 15. Past Present Future the week. The sea front is crowded with people and the 17. Answer to Who am I ? harbour is bustling with visitors enjoying something of 18. Diary a heat wave. At this time of year the town looks great 19. Society and one can see why more and more people are coming Officers to see Ramsgate as an attractive place to live and work. Credits All this activity doesn’t just occur spontaneously but requires a great deal of work by may dedicated people, mostly volunteers, who put in a huge effort to make An Apology Ramsgate an attractive destination for visitors. Our Ramsgate Matters wishes to apologise to the Society’s appreciation and thanks go to everyone involved. former Chairman Jocelyn A. McCarthy for the inad- I am beginning to feel that the various organisations vertent misspelling of his surname in a recent edition around the town are starting to work more closely of the magazine and for his generous and humorous together to recreate the sense of civic pride which response to the mistake. Editor. made the town so attractive to earlier generations. Ramsgate Town Council, The Ramsgate Society, the Coastal Communities Team, the Ramsgate The Ramsgate Society welcomes Regeneration Alliance, the Town Team, Ramsgate new members: Arts and numerous active residents groups and organisations are all playing their part. From Ramsgate: Many of these are represented on the Neighbourhood Graeme Campbell and Lorna Dallas-conte Plan Group, which, under the auspices of Ramsgate Rob and Sally Holden Town Council, is working hard to develop a town wide John Pidduck Neighbourhood Plan. The first stage will be to engage Sandra Rafferty local residents in the development of a vision for the town which we can all share and then to develop From Elsewhere: this into a set of policies which will form part of the Jean Barraclough, Devon Local Plan. It’s a gradual process that is beginning to Brian Bingham, Cheshire take shape and when complete will be a great help in Shireen Dorosti, Broadstairs attracting inward investment, creating local jobs and Mrs A Drane, Canterbury improving the image of Ramsgate to the outside world. Kim and Jim Moran, Broadstairs One important objective will be to ensure that new Mrs Shane Ridley, Dorset development that does take place is of good quality Peter and Elizabeth Tipton, Hampshire in both design and construction. Generally speaking Clive and Bev Whitehead, Margate people are more supportive of development when it is Jane Winehouse, Enfield of good design and has been the subject of early and genuine public engagement. Subject to funding being available a number of key The Ramsgate Society is a Registered Charity: 1138809 projects are being planning which could have a The Society is a Founder Member of Civic Voice, transformative affect over the next few years. The An affiliate of the Kent Federation of Amenity Groups Ramsgate Coastal Communities Team has recently And the Kent History Federation applied for a £1.7m grant from the Government Coastal Communities Fund for a packing of measures Picture Credits to regenerate Harbour Street and the sea front area J Dawes. B Daubney around the harbour. The Ramsgate Society is working 2 Chairman’s Report Continued on a £2.75m bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to restore the Clock House and Smeaton Dock as a Heritage Centre for the town with a special focus on the town’s maritime history. The Motor House project to redevelop the old Westcliff Hall site as a community enterprise could make a major contribution to the community facilities of the town and especially in providing opportunities for young people who have so much to offer if given the chance. So much of the attraction of Ramsgate is due to hundreds of Listed Buildings and the many Conservation Areas in the town. Conservation Areas are areas of special architectural and historic interest. 2017 will be the 50th anniversary of the introduction of conservation areas into the planning system in 1967 at a time when a great many of our historic buildings were being demolished and replaced by unsuitable buildings of inferior design. The Ramsgate Society is hoping to team up with the Ramsgate Conservation Area Action Group to draw attention to the importance of maintaining and enhancing our conservation areas which can be an important factor in the economic regeneration of our towns. The Ramsgate Coastal Communities Team with the support of Ramsgate Town Council, the Ramsgate Society and Thanet District Council will shortly be applying to Historic England to be designated as a Heritage Action Zone (HAZ). The aim of a Heritage Action Zone is to achieve economic growth by using the historic environment as a catalyst. Securing HAZ status will help support funding applications for a number of projects that will help to regenerate the economic, social and environmental needs of a particular area. This is a national programme so competition for inclusion in the scheme will be competitive but if successful could help attract the sort of grants and professional expertise the town needs. With all best wishes John Walker, Chairman Earlier Festivities. The Society’s Aims “To encourage high standards of architecture and town planning in Ramsgate. To stimulate public interest in and care for the beauty, history and character of the town. To encourage preservation and improvement of features of public amenity or historic interest. To pursue these ends by means of meetings, exhibitions, lectures, publications, other forms of instruction and publicity, and promotion of schemes of a charitable nature.” 3 Signs and Significance The Ramsgate Coastal Community Team, of which the Society is a member, has just applied for a grant to update pedestrian signage, in and around Ramsgate. Change is in the air and inevitable controversy for most of us do not judge what we see in the same light as anyone else. When the weight of lettering in this magazine is increased very slightly it affects our response to it. Clearer to read or heavy and not so sophisticated, possibly relate to our ages as much as aesthetics The front cover presents a new signs, which have appeared recently on private or commercial properties. All have used historical research to inform their design. They challenge but also capture something of our contemporary culture. Should anyone doubt that, they might consider how rich the town is, simply in the range of fanlight and house nameplates from the 18th 19th and 20th centuries. They are well worth more than a glance. The magazine rear cover, is the Ramsgate Festival installation by Theresa Smith of Mooch [www.mooch. co] for the Harbour Arm. She took the photograph on the right and also took inspiration from the motto that encircles the Victorian lighthouse by re-interpreting the Latin ‘a refuge for the desperate or suffering’ in a modern illuminated face. Just like Theresa’s Crown by the Pavilion last year, her text-based submerging tidal sculpture has received enthusiastic reviews and generated enormous interest. Of course, just like every artwork that works, it has aroused critics apparently offended by change or originality. 4 Rewriting Ramsgate’s Story History is not a constant. Fresh facts, insights and information constantly link present, recent or distant past with the future. These can change the image of the Town and they could affect economic and social change. While research and acceptance of change are not rapid, exchanging new ideas does affect attitudes. Ramsgate like Minster and Canterbury is a historic centre for a cure, visit or journey. That was the first meaning of pelerinage or pilgrimage. An ancient local pilgrim route was pioneered by Catriona Blaker in 2015. In Pugin Week, it leaves Canterbury Cathedral on 3rd September at 8.30am when John Coverdale leads the 17 mile rural route to Ramsgate. As coastal paths extend so do new ideas for secular or spiritual, virtual or physical experiences. Pugin’s 19th century designs will appear on Britain’s latest currency, the plastic £5 and feature in the National Pugin Centre, opening in Ramsgate in 2017. Traditional beach and amusement resorts abound around Ramsgate. The town enjoyed success in these areas but should not now be classified as another failing coastal community. Its strength lies in a wealth of natural, coastal, maritime, architectural, technological and historic assets. They extend over almost all of our nation’s past. Exceptional architecture, communications and outstanding micro-climate are advantages to become better known. Prehistoric Ramsgate is an area of which awareness is slightly blurred. Our town is surrounded by and built on one of the largest concentrations of burial sites known in Britain. Apart from a splendid former virtual archive of archaeology, the extraordinary Ebbsfleet Hoard lies in the British Museum and local Roman and Saxon artefacts, on show for a century are in store. There is more, all around. The Gateway to Britain was how Bede first described it, but he was probably writing of much more than ‘the troubled waters’, meaning ‘Ritupiae,’ now Richborough. Pegwell Bay and the Downs form a huge natural haven that was used long before the Romans. Lying between Ramsgate Harbour and the Goodwin Sands, for over 1500 years, it was a national assembly point for fleets and a refuge for naval, maritime, fishing, pirate and trading vessels.