The Ramsgate Festival is underway, running until July 30 when the 300ft waterslide will be in place in Royal Parade.
Pop Up Opera, the Handmade and Vintage Fair, beach cricket and the Ramsgate Seadog mini-fest were all on for visitors yesterday (July 22).
If you haven’t checked it out yet, here are some of the events taking place today:
Michael Blaker: Every Picture Tells A Story
As a compliment to Michael Blaker’s talk on his life in art on Saturday evening (22 July), this exhibition will continue in the Wellington Room of The Falstaff Hotel from Sunday July 23 until the festival ends on the evening of Sunday July 30. Visitors are welcome to come, browse and buy (if you wish!) at any time when the hotel is open and there is no other festival event taking place.
Ramsgate resident, Michael Blaker, was born 1928, and is a writer and artist specialising in etching.
The Falstaff
16-18 Addington Street
Ramsgate Meridian 5.14
The Ramsgate Meridian line is a part of the history of the town. It can be traced north from the clock house through the town and lies on a longitude that is 5 minutes and 41 seconds faster than Greenwich Mean Time in London.
The Line, which was only ever inside the clock house building in the harbour was made from brass. It was stolen in the 1970s but accurate measurements had been taken, so it would possible to recreate it. As a meridian line it can be traced north from the clock house through the town and Mooch intends to recreate this line across the town for the Summer Festival.
Theresa Smith is the lead artist in Mooch, a Ramsgate and London-based award winning creative practice working on public realm projects for commercial clients, local authorities and charities since 2002.
Model ship display
Custom House
10am to 4pm
The models are made by Bob Pryor to 1/1200 scale from paper and wire and feature all types of ship – from the Titanic to the Dunkirk ship, the Isle of Thanet.
Handmade and Vintage Fair
Harbour Parade, 11am to 4pm
Arts crafts and food feast with entertainment.
Enjoy locally produced food and drink while you soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the sights and sounds.
Habitat
Exhibition of local artists
McGillan & Woodell
43 Queen Street
11am to 2pm
Bungee trampolines
Pier Yard, 11am to 4pm
Sea at the Micro Museum, Church Hill
1pm to 4pm
The Micro Museum team will be joining in the celebrations of Ramsgate’s maritime location during Ramsgate Week and Festival with sea-based themed games.
Visitors are sure to have a jolly time playing with the fishes, fishing for the fishes or adventuring with pirates – all on the classic games consoles.
As a special extra over the event, visitors will be able to enjoy the hands-on experience of a ground-breaking fishing game played on the Sega Dreamcast. Get Bass was a forerunner of the motion controlled games which, a whole decade later, became the norm on the Nintendo Wii. This is the latest game to feature in the ODT Space in the Museum where visitors will often find the odd, obscure, unusual or simply most bizarre games to try.
Ramsgate carnival float
Full guide to the carnival here
Sound System: the Political Power of Music
Sound System is the story of one musician’s journey to discover what makes music so powerful. Dave Randall uses his insider’s knowledge of the industry to shed light on the secrets of celebrity, commodification and culture. It is a book of raves, riots and revolution and poses the question: how can we make music serve the interests of the many, rather than the few?
Dave Randall is a musician and activist. He has toured the world playing guitar with Faithless, Sinead O’Connor, Emiliana Torrini and many others.
5.45pm to 7.30pm
Vinyl Head Cafe and Record Shop
The Broadway
Robert Poulter and his Model Theatre
7pm
Robert Poulter and his Model Theatre return to the Ramsgate Festival with a tale of a Turbot from seabed to dinner table – illustrating the Victorian fishing industry in its hey day.
With New Model Theatre, Robert Poulter has taken the traditional medium of toy theatre as a starting point and written and designed original productions which use movement, light and sound to create a new theatrical experience in miniature. Since 1980 his performances have taken place in many art galleries, museums and festivals, not only in the UK but also Germany, the USA, France and the Netherlands.
The Falstaff
16-18 Addington Street
Book a free ticket on the Ramsgate Festival website
Fish Face
Sailor’s Church
Last year Thanet artists Emily Tull and Stacey Chapman exhibited their maritime inspired artworks in one of the Ramsgate harbour arches.
This year the exhibition called ‘Fish Face’ returns with specially created artworks inspired by conversations they have had with local fishermen. The pieces will be a mix of drawings and thread paintings which will be on display in the Sailor’s Church in Military Road.
The exhibition is part of the one day mini event called Ramsgate Seadog. The exhibition starts at noon on July 22 and runs until July 28.