The board responsible for Ramsgate’s £20m Pride in Place funding from government has teamed up with the town’s Winter Festival organisation to hold creative workshops.
The Ramsgate Neighbourhood Board was set up to drive the Ramsgate Pride in Place Programme. It’s joining forces with the Ramsgate Winter Festival to get views and test new ideas to be included in the town’s 10 year vision for the funding.
The Ramsgate Winter Festival’s primary funder is Ramsgate Town Council, as well as St George’s Church and Vattenfall.
As part of the festival, residents are invited to help create the ‘Heart of Ramsgate’. There will be lantern-making workshops and a giant community lantern build.
The result will be a large illuminated heart with its message ‘we are Ramsgate’ that will lead a parade on New Year’s Eve. The build workshops are open to everyone and will happen at St George’s Church, Church Hill, Ramsgate on:
- Monday 29 December, 10.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30 to 4.30pm
- Tuesday 30 December, 10.30am to 12.30pm and 2.30pm to 4.30pm
- Wednesday 31st December, 10.30am- 12.30pm only
The New Year’s Eve Winter Lantern Parade, with the theme of Love, Peace and Joy to the World, will form up outside St George’s Church at 4.15pm ready to set off at 4.45pm. It will parade down the High Street and Harbour Street to finish at the Ramsgate Tunnels for refreshments and more fun.
During the festival residents will be asked how the event makes them feel and how community activity can help Ramsgate’s town centre. This will provide intelligence and evidence going into the design phase of projects for the wider £20m Investment Plan.
The collaboration will culminate in a closing event in February 2026. The event will showcase the art created by the community and officially launch the ‘Revive and Thrive – Ramsgate Rising’ vision.
This will be the official start of the town’s Pride in Place Programme.
There will be more workshops in January in the lead up to the closing community celebration and the launch a small grants funding pot. The grant scheme will help community organisations to run their own creative projects through film, photography, music, arts, crafts, or innovative ideas.
Brian Horton, Ramsgate Neighbourhood Board Interim Chair, said: “Real change happens when the town pulls together. That is why we are joining forces with the Winter Festival and its partners, including Ramsgate Town Council and local businesses.
“When multiple organisations pool their resources and energy, we can make things happen. Everything from lighting up our streets to reaching the people we don’t usually hear from, to give them a real say in Ramsgate’s future.”
Teresa Askew, Winter Festival Producer, said: “This is about more than just a festival; it is about activating the pride we all feel for Ramsgate. We are excited to work with the Board to turn our workshops into a space where the community can build something beautiful together. We invite everyone to come along, make a lantern, and help us show the world that Ramsgate is rising.”
The £20m Pride in Place funding is to support investment in Ramsgate over a ten year period, from 2026 to 2036. The Ramsgate Neighbourhood Board will decide how to spend the funding.
The board has already agreed a £535k grant to secure the freehold ownership of the Ramsgate Youth Centre for Pie Factory Music.
Thanet council has approved plans to forward fund the grant, repayable from the Ramsgate Pride in Place Programme when it officially starts next April, to enable the site to be bought from Kent County Council. This means it is no longer under threat of being sold at auction.
There is more information on the Ramsgate Winter Festival and the Pride in Place Programme online.
So much money, so little to show for it (or planned) which is sad when you think what that amount of money could do in a positive way to improve the life’s of local people.
I don’t think they are going to spend £20m on this, but I get your point.
Why not buy a gigantic garden incinerator(courtesy of our council tax of course)and put the £20 million into it and light it up, its not a massive amount of money and we’re going through it at an alarming rate.
So glad I am not alone in thinking this is a complete waste of money year after year.
This looks amazing.