New Welcome Information Sign

• Written by: Lorraine
• Written on: March 7, 2016
• Filed Under: Broadstairs, History, Local Area, News

Broadstairs has got a great community. The Information Kiosk overlooking Viking Bay and the RNLI shop are both manned by volunteers and many of the good things that happen here are only possible because of people giving up their time to do things they care about that they believe will be worthwhile. That strong community spirit is one of the things that make this a great place to live, work and visit.

The Broadstairs Town Team is a group of volunteers who do all kinds of good things for the town – from regular beach cleans and gardening groups to summer concerts and painting things that need it.   Last month the Town Team unveiled a really nice new sign at Broadstairs railway station to welcome visitors when they arrive. You will be able to see it if you come to Broadstairs by train and take the exit from the ticket office.

The sign masthead uses the artwork that features in the Town Team mural at the bottom of the High Street – Broadstairs is spelt out in decorative letters with illustrations of different aspects of the town – from cavorting hooden horses to the beach and the wooden jetty!  This design, by a local artist, was the winning submission in a competition the team ran in 2013 and has become iconic since being used for the mural.

Under the masthead you will find maps of Broadstairs town centre and also the wider area of Thanet as a whole, showing beaches and key points of interest and giving some historical context – did you know that Charles Dickens called Broadstairs “the freshest freest place”?

There is information on guided walks that you can take, including the Broadstairs Town Trail and the St Peter’s Village Tour.

A ‘Time Travel’ panel gives a timeline of Broadstairs’ history, from Viking times, when Horsa and Henghist arrived by Viking ship at what was later named Viking Bay, through to Dickens’ time and the visits made by Princess Victoria, before she became Queen, smugglers, the building of York Gate in 1540 and the wooden jetty, around a hundred years before that, to more recent highlights such as Oliver Postgate, creator of the Clangers, and the coming of HS1 high speed rail service from London.

Another panel gives information on the key events in Broadstairs’ calendar. From the New Years Day swim, to the Blues Bash in Feb, Easter Food Fair, Dickens Week, Water Gala, Folk Week, Wheels and Fins Festival and the main Food Festival in October.

Finally there’s a quirky image of Broadstairs Viking Bay, featuring a knitted seagull who appeared there last summer, knitted by local crafters, the Crafty Broads, as part of a “yarn bomb” event where they decorated the seafront with knitted seagulls, mermaids, starfish and other fun stuff – much to the delight of visitors and locals that week – it made a great display! This fun picture is shown with social media sharing buttons to encourage people to share their own fresh perspectives of the town on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when they come here, with a special hashtag #thisisbroadstairs. Search on any of those social media platforms with that tag and you will find some great pictures that people have shared – showing lots of different views of the town. Why not join the online conversation about Broadstairs and add that tag to your own pictures when you come here?

The new sign seems to us a great way new addition to our town so we’d like to say well done to the Town Team for organising it and we encourage all our visitors to go and check it out.

If you haven’t been to Broadstairs yet and this article has intrigued you – use the form on our homepage to find out about availability of our lovely Broadstairs holiday lets, which are suitable for groups and families.