Last year, The Ramsgate Society celebrated its 60th year and we're now planning our next 60 years and would love to welcome more members.
One of our enduring objectives is ‘to stimulate public interest in, and to care for, the beauty, history and character of the town and its surroundings’. A key means to achieve this objective has been through informative “talks”.
How much do you know of these talks? We always promote first to our members and as tickets invariably sell out within a week or two, there is limited publicity outside our loyal base. This short article aims to start to put this right!
There are only two rules when booking speakers: they must have something interesting to say and the topic must be relevant to, and preferably, directly involve, Ramsgate. This is no great restriction as there is always so much that is new to uncover:
- The personalities that lived or stayed here (from Lady Augusta Murray, the abandoned wife of a royal prince to the popular Victorian writer, Wilkie Collins).
- Those responsible for the built environment (from Smeaton’s contribution to our harbour to the current developers of Albion Place).
- Tales of the sea (from Little Ships to Tall Ships and the RNLI to National Coastwatch).
- Looking back or looking forward (from local mining heritage to concerns about preserving our nature reserves).
- New angles on places or events (from Ramsgate’s own ‘religious wars’ to stories of the African American airmen in Manston in the 1950s).
- Looking to the future (from what it means to be a Heritage Harbour to plans for Radford House or the creation of a Ramsgate Historic Quarter).
- Supporting those with vision (from the Ramsgate Space team tackling the blight of empty shops to the work towards Clock House regeneration or simply listening to a prominent architect describe how things might be).
All of the above have been talk subjects in the last four years: 32 talks of which 28 were capacity crowds, while at the same time the venues we are using have become larger.
If you are intrigued by topics like these, we hope you will consider joining the Ramsgate Society. It costs just £15 a year for one person or £20 for two people living at the same address. The talks are just one small part of Society activities. An easy way to get a wider view is to see what else is going on and then maybe to join us. All details can be found on our website:
www.ramsgate-society.org.uk.
Once you are a member, you will receive a monthly emailed newsletter keeping you up to date on other aspects of the Society, including the Maritime Museum, the seaside shelters, the litter picks, involvement with the Heritage Harbour, helping to organise the Community Champions Award, the Design Awards and Heritage Open Days, spreading information on what other local charities with complimentary aims are doing and generally providing a local ‘voice’ on many issues.
At time of writing, we cannot be specific about dates, venues and final content for talks coming up in early 2026, but as a ‘taster’, we have four speakers already confirmed:
- In January, we will welcome Dr Clive Nuttman talking about the Monkton Nature Reserve.
- In March, Dr Kathryn Ferry will join us to talk about Seaside Architecture. Kathryn is the nation’s number one go-to academic on all things to do with the seaside and we will encourage her to bring along a selection of her books.
- In May, we will offer something different again with Sarah Merrington, the new TDC Project Manager for the Pride in Places invited to discuss how this fund might be spent.
- In July, Diane Harvey-White will return with insights from her new research with the intriguing title of The Aesthetic Appeal of Ramsgate Harbour.
If you like the sound of some of the talks, we hope you will join the Ramsgate Society and stay ‘in the know’. We understand not all members are able to come to the talks but we really appreciate those who are regular attenders and make our events so rewarding to arrange.