Reader Richard (good name!) writes to remind me that today sees the start of Ramsgate's first ever Summer Squall festival, packed with more than firty Fannitty fun-filled frolics over the course of the bank holiday weekend and designed to put the Cannes of Kent back on the creative map where it belongs.Dicky's photo shows artist Ben Parry's, er, sonic junk machine outside the Custom House at last night's launch. Apparently this Heath Robinson device will be floating around the town over the next three days, banging and clanging and whirring away to its electric heart's content.
Other highlights include the world's smallest solar powered cinema (seats eight) showing Thanet seaside promotional films from the 50s, 60s and 70s, the world's biggest percussion band made out of recycled old junk, a heritage treasure hunt on Monday morning, thrilling theatre at the King's Church Hall in the centre of town, and a chance to get your book published with an X Factor style writing competition at the Shirley Temple Yacht Club, also on Monday morning.
What with the weather turning up trumps, and all this stuff going on, it looks like the Millionaires' Playground is the place to be this weekend!
Click here for more details on the yourfannitinnit website
Click here to download full Summer Squall programme
38 comments:
Old tat then...just like our pathetic teeny tiny council.
The Slide Show at the Kings Hall last night was sensational. Just the sort of quality entertainment we need in Ramsgate.
Once again, no matter what is going on, somebody has to introduce some 'pathetic' council dig. Sometimes it is because there are not enough events but, even when there are things going on, still the council knockers persist.
Think about it for a moment when you are sat in front of your TV with a hot beverage or glass of your favourite tipple on a cold winter evening. Would you really prefer to drag off to some council or committee meeting, out in the chill to listen to a talking shop. Especially knowing that no matter what you do the good old Thanet whingers will still damn you for it.
Personally I really don't know how we actually manage to keep a council or why they give it their time. I certainly would not want to do it and I am pretty sure that none of the regular council bashers on these pages would do it either.
How about cheering for Thanet for a change, giving its happenings and events a bit of support and seeing if, collectively, we can make it a better place. Then, just maybe, I've slipped off into dreamsville again.
"Once again, no matter what is going on, somebody has to introduce some 'pathetic' council dig."
Is there a rule saying that we can't criticise a useless Council? Or do you live in some alternative Universe where the local Council is doing a great job?
There is a huge difference between constructive criticism and criticising simply for its own sake.
My point was that maybe it extends beyond knocking the council and, if we really want a better Thanet, then we should endeavour to play a part.
The first question you should ask yourself is "would you do it?" and, if not, exactly what contribution do you think you are making by your comments. Persistent negativity amounts to precisely nothing.
I think you'll find that persistent negativity amounts to a substantial negative charge, actually!
If you balance it out with persistent positivity, then it'd amount to nothing.
Maybe then I am necessary to provide that positive balancing charge.
Seriously though, I am not opposed to constructively criticising our council where it is justified but find the persistent negativity towards everything that goes on tedious. It achieves nothing for it becomes like the fabled shepherd boy who cried "wolf." Nobody that matters takes any notice.
For my part I am now off to see what is going on in our little old planet with a bit of sunshime on this last bank holiday of the season. Thought of making a fortune by betting on the next whinge on a Thanet blog but cannot find a bookie offering any odds!
Just come back from the harbour and with the sun shining, the crowds thronging and the jazz band playing it doesn't get any better. Well done everyone-the sun especially. The old tat(6.12) had both kids and adults spellbound. Don't be a cynic all your life or you will turn into what was said to be the British character-"mean , small minded and bitter." Oh! -too late......
Listen Rock/Bluenote/anonymous or whatever you call yourself today. You aren't neccessary, and nobody has to provide a positive balancing charge, least of all, you.
Have you ever read Private Eye? It takes the p*ss out of the establishment and is jolly good fun. Lots of people buy it. Lots of people read it. It doesn't have some boring tw*t "providing a positive balancing charge."
If you want to post meaningless twaddle about how good you think the Council is, why don't you utilise one of the many negativity-free outlets which are available to you? The Isle of Thanet Gazette is so far up the Council's *rse that it's hard to tell whether it's a local paper or propaganda. In addition many Councillors run blogs where they remove any negative comments.
ECR's web-site may include an element of negativity but this is needed to balance the glossy cr*p published elsewhere. And, in my opinion, this is one of the key reasons that people like it.
Well said that man. It's too easy to take a dig at Thanet and there's a long, long history stretching back several decades of people on the isle whingeing at every turn. While the council is far from perfect, and it is deserving of a lot of criticism, do give a cheer for those who try to make the place better now and again.
A good friend of mine is one of those mortals employed by Thanet Council to clear litter from public bins. Not always an easy or pleasant task - but he does so conscientiously when that work is given to him.
He gets a call from his boss early one morning last week - 7.30am - to empty a rubbish bin in Ramsgate. He gets there to find there isn't much actual litter in it but some thoughtless oaf has stuffed a duvet in it because they can't be arsed to dispose of it by taking it to the tip or putting it in a recycling container.
With that kind of thick thinking it's no wonder the Millionaire's Playground can be a little untidy sometimes!
Great fun at the harbour this weekend. Good shows and a good turn out.
8:20 PM Seems there are several people offering a positive slant on things so, on your reasoning, there must be quite a few TDC employees about.
Anyway, I thought it was a good weekend in the old play ground and, if you don't like my positive comment, there is nothing you can do about it except whinge.
Interesting comment about the Isle of Thanet Gazette. This is the paper I gave up buying because of the amount of reader's letters space it afforded to Labour Councillors and some anti-everything ranter from Westgate.
In its attempts to be even handed the poor old Thanet paper has slipped well out of any right wing bias, if it ever had one.
Ramsgate Town Council, in commissioning Ramsgate Arts to produce a festival set a number of aims.
1. To produce something family orientated.
2. To spread across Ramasgate rather than just the seafront
3. To be a bit more creative than just beer tent and cover bands.
Whether they succeeded others can judge.
The council will assess the event next month.
My own view is that most of the aims were met. Over 2000 people paid to attend events as well as all the free stuff.
I am grateful for the efforts of all involved.
Cllr. Green, I sincerely hope the feed back is positive for I, for one, thought it was a very good weekend for Ramsgate. People seemed to be enjoying themselves and surely that must be the aim for a tourist orientated seaside town. Well done to all at the RTC.
Shame they had to walk past the hoardings on the seafront and see the evidence of TDC's incompetence - a building site in a prime location where nothing has happened for ten years.
Perhaps TDC should have considered offers from people who were prepared to pay market value for the site, rather than selling it on the cheap to a company, based overseas with nameless directors. Why would you do that?
RTC may have done a good job of getting pictures up to decorate the hoardings but the festering mess is still there for who knows how much longer?
8:03 AM
The site on the seafront is handled by Terence Painter, locally contactable, and the reason for the delay on rededevelopment is down to the cliff strengthening work that was found necessary.
Where exactly is your evidence for the allegation that the site was not sold to the highest bidder or did you make that up?
A local property developer said it at a public meeting I attended. He said that a Canterbury firm had been prepared to pay a million over the figure agreed by TDC. I think Andy from the Belgian Bar was fronting another bid for the site. Was the sale of the site agreed following an open bidding process?
I would have thought that the disposal of public assets was the subject of stringent rules. Surely somebody at TDC should be able to answer your query or you could write to your ward councillor.
Some disgruntled developer who missed out is hardly a reliable source of evidence.
From memory,there were 15 initial responses to the call for expressions of interest in the site when it was offered.
Unfortunately, these were reduced to just 2 actual serious bids at the second stage. Neither of these actually complied with the stricture that the site should be mainly leisure or commercial. Both required a housing component. My view is that the site should have been withdrawn at that stage. However the TDC cabinet instructed officers to investigate the ability of each to deliver their projects. This process led to the selection of the current developer.
Question 1 - how were the 15 bids reduced to 2? What criteria were used to do this if the 2 remaining bids still didn't comply with the original strictures?
Question 2 - Can you remind us about the leisure and commercial aspects of the current plans ? From what I've seen they are planning to build a massive block of flats.
Question 3 - The plan being touted by Andy from the Belgian bar was almost entirely leisure. Why was that one rejected?
I think Cllr Green has already taken time out of his busy schedule to explain that, out of the fifteen bids, only two were found to be serious. Furthermore, since he is of a different political persuasion to the controlling party, I think we can take his word for it. This also answers the question 3 of Anon 4:53 PM, as clearly that was not one of the serious bids.
The plans for the development can be seen at the Council Offices and there is hardly space for them within this blog in any case.
Suggest these questions are just mischief making but the correct place to ask them, if they are not, is of one's ward councillor.
There seems to be some sort of confusion here, I believe that Labour were in control when the bidding process was going on.
My understanding is that the other bidder was Westcliff Park Estates, they were involved in the major development on the Westcliff opposite the boating pool at the time.
They were turned down, on the basis that they weren’t financially sound enough, in favour of an offshore development company whose financial background was impossible to determine, because the laws in the country they operated from didn’t require companies to file accounts.
The financial guarantee that the developer proposed and the council accepted, a bond, proved to be something that the developer was unable to obtain.
As a result of this the council’s director of finance recommended to last years Conservative cabinet not to proceed without the bond that protected the council from liability, that cabinet decided to ignore that advice.
At the moment the development is set to proceed without fulfilling basic safety requirements strongly recommended by the environment agency.
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