Crappy New Year!

Hello ECR fans! In fact, hello generally!

As you can see from the press release below, I've wrested control of the old blog back from those chaps at Angloway Media - hurrah! It was a tough fight, but once I offered the princely sum of one whole British sov, they caved in. So it's out with the old and in with, er, the old again.

What, I hear you ask, is new for 2014 then? Well, not a lot really. Our beloved council is still struggling to clean up after the festivities, and has had to apologise for getting it sooooo wrong with the new recycling system. Same old, same old.

Along the trendy East Cliff here in the Millionaires' Playground, the shelters have been vandalised once more. My contact in the trench coat and trilby writes: 'The shelter nearest the kiosk on Victoria Parade was wrecked last night. Five windows smashed....'

The same East Cliff spy also clocked another of these recently renovated shelters, the one closest to the park, smashed on New Year's Day, adding: 'It also reeks of human poo.' Eurgh!

It's not the first time these shelters have been vandalised, and you have to wonder what kind of nitwit knuckle-draggers are perpetrating these acts of wilful incivility. As you know, I'm not the hang 'em and flog 'em type, but I have to say I'd be the first in line to pop along and blow raspberries if the woefully short arm of the law were ever to catch up with them and they were made to do community service!

Better news, however, on the beer front. I was invited along to the launch of Gadds' Uberhop last night at the excellent Ramsgate Music Hall. This splendid, lagerised (technical term) beer was first brewed for the Planet Thanet Beer Festival in 2010, and has been revived due to popular demand. I must say, I don't remember much about the 2010 Beer Festival, thanks mostly to the Uberhop. Similarly, I don't recall all that much about last night! Happy days!

End Of An ERA

With millionaires steadily deserting Ramsgate's sunny East Cliff for the artificially warmer climes of the Arsonists' Playground, it appears that the local residents' association has gone down the gurgler.

Which is a shame, as the ERA was instrumental in tarting up the area, not least by installing lovely girls on the Festival of Britain fountain on the front!

Still, it's not all doom and gloom, as there are still many civic-minded souls emailing me daily with their thoughts, discoveries and issues here on the trendy east side of town. So I've pulled together a round-up of the latest news, and called it The Round-Up Of The Latest East Cliff News!

A spate of graffiti has recently affected the East Cliff...

Apparently the Duffers' finest have been alerted and their crack team of graffiti removalists will be on the case soon.

One of the tykes that threw stones and smashed the glass in our lovely, restored shelter has apparently fessed up to the cozzers, and will no doubt spend the rest of his life in clink.

Finally, the pulhamite on the Grade II listed Winterstoke rock gardens is cracking...

This is apparently due to neglected, overgrown trees and mature shrubs, as the rocks and terraces were only intended to hold small plants.

Mind you, I was in Boredstares yesterday, now there's a place that really is looking shabby!

And that's The Round-Up Of The Latest East Cliff News!

Gimme Shelter

Or more appropriately 'gawd gimme strength', as the rubber-lipped one also no doubt intoned at some point.

According to reader Ben, this damage was done to one of the recently restored shelters here on the East Cliff yesterday afternoon. The vandals were apparently four nippers, aged around nine or ten, who were, er, getting satisfaction out of heaving stones at the shelter.

The rozzers were called and some names have been taken, let's hope they don't have any sympathy for the little devils. (That's enough Rolling Stones tracks - Ed.)

I had been meaning praise the restoration of these Victorian edifices (14 in all along our lovely front), which the Ramsgate Society supervised having won a £500K grant from the Townscape Heritage Initiative. My picture below shows their previous, parlous state, back in ye olden days (2007), after they'd spent a number of years being neglected by that other gang of mindless vandals, Thanet Council.

Tucker Bush Trial

Sipping a latte and masticating a muffin in Charlotte Court over the weekend, courtesy of the excellent Age & Sons, I couldn't help thinking the ambiance was somewhat lacking. After exerting the noodle to its max, the old 20W bulb lit up. Where had the shrubbery gone? Take a butcher's...

Oh no, wait, there it is...

Hacked off and lying all over the shop! It looks as if the Ramsgate Chopper has been at it again! Tempting as it is to blame our beloved duffers for yet another crime against nature, I gather they're only partly responsible. Apparently they gave the 'Charlotte Court Residents' Association', which seems to consist solely of the chap who rather ostentatiously bought this...

in the full the glare of the BBC's Homes Under the Hammer cameras a couple of years back, permission to prune them.

Prune them? Prune them? That's a bit like chopping off both feet to trim your toenails! Kuh!

The King Is Dead, Long Live The Queen

Having a bite down at the excellent Belgian Bar last night, the references on their menu to 'Ramsgate's riviera' and the 'Millionaires' Playground' reminded me that there was something I meant to tell you. Poor old Dickie passed away yesterday following complications arising out of his motorcycle accident. He had seemed to be making a full recovery but contracted some kind of chest infection and went rapidly downhill. Despite the best efforts of the doctors and nurses at the UCL, he died in the early hours.

I don't think he would want any of us to be sad, and he was still cracking jokes about Thanet Council right up until the end according to his sister. In fact he made a point of writing his own obituary because, as he said in true ECR style, he 'didn't want any other bastard writing it'. I will maintain this blog to the best of my ability as a tribute to the great man, and the fact that phrases such as 'the Cannes of Kent', 'knackered old Jumbos' and 'council duffers' have passed into local parlance are a lasting legacy to his genius.

So as we say goodbye, here are the final words 'what he wrote' (as he said in the email):

In Memoriam
Eastcliff Richard
The King of Thanet Bloggers

So farewell
Then, Eastcliff Richard.

They called you
'Thanet's Premier Blog' and
'The Local Blogging King'

'You can't get rid
Of me that easily'
That was
Your catchphrase.

Well I've fucking
Gone now
So I hope
You're all happy.

E. C. Richard (29)

Chopper Out On Beach

The boys in yellow appeared to be carrying out an extensive search over an incredibly packed Ramsgate Main Sands a few minutes ago. Anyone know what's going on?

Blogged via iPhone whilst sipping a refreshingly cool pastis

Update: This has now been confirmed by Dover Coastguard as a search for an illegal immigrant that had jumped ship. Click here for more.

Plaque Remover

Nothing to do with the old Eastcliff gnashers this. No, toddling along the front during my constitutional this morning, I noticed this empty space where there used to be a commemorative plaque on the East Cliff chine. I seem to recall it was dated 1926, which was presumably when the decorative rocks were erected that give the place its oh-so-Dorset feel.

I'd like to think that the Borough's Director of Works has removed it for restoration, but that's just me and my little fantasy island that I live in. It's much more likely that the skinny bloke in the white van who goes around nicking any piece of spare metal from people's gardens has half-inched the thing, and that it's being melted down at this very moment to make the bronze medals that our plucky British sportsmen and women will be hoovering up in 2012!

White Van Manhunt

Reader Colin, who's on holiday here in the Millionaires' Playground, writes:

I looked out of my room yesterday morning to see a number of police officers crawling over a white van which had had its windows smashed. They seemed to be particularly interested in the contents of the van and were searching the surrounding area. I took this snap. Any clues as to what was going on?

Er, no Colin. But there has been a great deal of police activity in these parts since the dreadful robbery/assault on Clarendon House student Sam Eastwell in Albion Place last week. Another reader who was out and about last night writes:

Last night myself and some friends were making our way in a taxi from Broadstairs to Ramsgate when we were stopped along Victoria Parade not once but twice by hi-vis clad police officers asking if we had seen anything suspicious on the night of August 6/7 as apparently there had been a 'burglary' in that area. We said our usual 'No officers, we were at home asleep in bed at that time, honest!' and continued on our merry way and ended up at the Belgian Bar.

The night wore on and I decided to head on home with my friends in tow. When we reached the top of the stairs by Madiera Walk we were stopped once again by a group of police officers, one or two in Reebok jackets! Each asking whether we had seen anything on the night of Wednesday 6 August as there had been an assault. It occurs to me, why spend a week doing nothing before taking action on a crime by randomly stopping people THREE TIMES and asking incredibly vague questions, why have two VERY different stories as to what had happened on the evening of august 6/7 and why start asking questions in the middle of the night? Altogether there were (approximately estimated by my 'I'm sober, honest I've only had one shandy!' friend) about 15 police cars, 6 vans and 25 individual officers all just standing around chatting and chewing gum.

There is an ongoing police operation in the area involving, apparently, 70 of Kent's finest, some of whom will presumably as a matter of course be on gum-chewing and standing around duties. However, 17 year old Sam is still critically ill in hospital and has yet to regain consciousness. The cops say the assault could be linked to two other robberies, the first in Newington Road on Wednesday evening and the second in Victoria Parade less than an hour before the Albion Place incident. A watch, mobile phones and cash were among the items stolen.

The suspects in the Victoria Parade incident are described as white, aged about 18 or 19, between 5ft 10ins and 6ft, both slim, but one heavier built than the other. One was wearing a yellow and grey striped hooded top and dark jogging bottoms. The other was wearing a white or light-coloured hooded top and dark bottoms.

Unfortunately that description narrows it down to any of around ten thousand youths here in Ramsgate, but the message is the police are clearly desperate to nick these violent and dangerous offenders. So, if you have any information contact police on 01843 231055 or Kent Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Click here for more on Thanet Extra website

Update: Two teenage boys have now been arrested in connection with this incident. Click here to read more.

Hatchet Job

It's not often one has the opportunity to witness a youth in a tracksuit, wielding an enormous rusty meat cleaver, running down the street shouting 'I'm not gonna f*cking put up with this any f*cking longer', but that was the delightful vision that confronted the Eastcliff mincers today as I toddled down the road for my afternoon snifter.

Yes, I did think of ringing the rozzers, but on balance I decided they probably had more important things on their plates. Such as a vital pensions meeting, or a presentation on health and safety most like.

I Do Like To Stroll Along The Prom...

Meandering along the East Cliff prom this morning, I clocked one or two changes. First off, our Grade II listed Pugin lion has been restored after its encounter with the East Cliff Chopper last year. Hurrah!

East Cliff Chopper Strikes Again!

It started with Pugin's nose. Then it was his concrete lion. Not long after, our car crushing, caff crushing, graffiti removing local Councillor Dave Green's bollards were hacked off.

Now someone's gone and hopped off with our all new, turret-mounted, M61 Vulcan 20mm rapid firing machine gun with infrared night vision, which was protecting one of our marvellous monuments from the daubists. Is nothing sacred?

28 March - ICCCTV

19 May - INoCCCTV

Councillor's Bollards Hacked Off

Holy hacksaws! It's only been a few weeks since our local caff demolishing, car crushing, graffiti removing councillor Dave Green built these step-outs along Victoria Parade and adorned them with snazzy bollards. Now some blighter has come along a hacked a couple of them off.

I'll have to be more careful next time I give my old throbber a thrashing along here. The lights ain't great, and there's already more obstacles to avoid than the Mini Marathon round of It's A Knockout. Without Councillor Green's reflective bollards, I might well end up going base over apex.

Last year one of those Pugin lions not far from here was hacked off. Now these bollards. Could it be that there's an East Cliff Chopper on the loose?