Events
There are always plenty of great events happening in Broadstairs and the surrounding region throughout the year. Ramsgate Rooms is pleased to display a selection of the most popular and recognised events in our local area for you to take a peek at. Don’t forget to check back regularly for updates!
POW! 2021
Not to be missed!
5TH MARCH – 8TH MARCH 2021
POW! Thanet is one of the UK’s only festivals celebrating International Women’s Day with the theme for 2021 being ‘POWer in Protest’.
2021 marks 40 years since the Greenham Common peace camps began, and POW will honour the women who protested for our peace, our rights across history and celebrate women waving the flags today.
The programme will include community dance workshops, banner making workshops with Rebecca Strickson, conversations with Gemma Cairney, Mary Beard, Ruby Rare and a night of womens folk music and dance, Hannah Hollands album launch, POW Youth take over Margate High Street with an art exhibition, a Greenham Common Experience at Powell Cotton Museum and a screening of Carry Greenham Home with a Q&A from director Beeban Kidron.
For full programme details visit www.powthanet.com
Christmas at the Caves
“Due to Kent being in Tier 3 of the national system, it is with great sadness that the Caves cannot welcome Father Christmas for the first two weekends of December (5th/6th and 12th/13th). It is hoped he will be able to visit 19th/20th December*
The Margate Caves are being transformed into a sparkly subterranean snow-land this Christmas as the great man Father Christmas, flies in from Lapland and sets up a magical grotto hidden far below the hustle and bustle of Northdown Road.
Children will be able to meet the man in red, receive a gift and explore the festively-themed Caves, with the shop and café open for festive themed treats and gift buying!
Father Christmas will be following current COVID-19 guidelines and all visits will be in line with the latest elf and safety guidelines.
- Tickets are £9.50 per child including entry to the Caves and a carefully chosen gift.
- Two adults per child will be allowed free, with additional adults charged at £4.50″
Ramsgate Illuminations Return for December 2020
1ST – 31ST DECEMBER 2020
The fabulous Ramsgate Illuminations at the Royal Harbour are returning for December 2020 and we are all counting on them being better than ever!
The berth holders of Ramsgate Royal Harbour are busy decorating their vessels in the run up to Christmas. Make sure you go and see this wonderful spectacle of boats and local businesses lit up for the festive season.
Raising money each year for the RNLI, there promises to be stiff competition for the prize of Best Dressed Boat. Which one will be your favourite?
Ramsgreat Week Promises Arty Halloween Fun
A fantastic new festival is happening in Ramsgate next week!
Ramsgreat Week is a nine-day tour de force, with both digital and socially-distanced live events across the town. Set up and nationally co-ordinated and by Margate-based Marine Studios’ Back and Fill initiative, Ramsgreat Week is one of 12 of coastal town festivals taking part this October half term. It’s aim is to get people of all ages engaging with seaside towns out of season, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic’s economic impact on coastal communities.
With most attractions free, visitors can take part in Looping the Loop activities including circus skills, puppet shows and a comedy cabaret. There is an Open Studios trail for you to take in the eclectic local art, as well as a fabulous Covid-safe Pumpkin Trail so that children still get to go trick or treating this year. For the grown-ups is Screaming Alley’s Streaming Alley Halloween Zoom event which promises to be great fun.
Ramsgate Arts Barge is holding a Busk on the Barge musical performance during the festival and a Makers of Ramsgate pop-up market selling hand-made artisan and vintage goods will also be happening. An extra dimension is Ramsgreat Week’s linking in with The Earth Museum’s global digital map, marking 30 Ramsgate features of interest.
Thanet Heritage Open Days 11th-20th September 2020
Heritage Open Days returns this year across the country and the Isle of Thanet is no exception. Partipating venues including the Margate Caves and the Palace Cinema in Broadstairs will be offering free entry, guided tours and talks for people to experience the area’s rich history, architecture and culture.
Please check with individual venues for Covid-19 updates.
Drive-in Film Club at Dreamland
Film fans and musical misfits, get your popcorn ready – Dreamland will be turning the park into a socially distanced drive-in cinema this summer.
Join them on selected days in August to watch a series of fantastic films on their huge HD outdoor screen.
In this screening, Shark Tale, the sea underworld is shaken up when the son of shark mob boss Don Lino is accidentally killed while on the hunt.
Guests will be able to bring their own food and drink to enjoy in their cars. A limited range of food and drink will also be available to purchase on the evening, in accordance with social distancing guidelines.
Please note that larger vehicles will be positioned at the rear of the arena.
https://www.visitthanet.co.uk/events/dreamland-drive-in-film-club-shark-tale-u-64185/
Ramsgate Week 2021 – Annual Sailing Regatta in Ramsgate
Unfortunately cancelled for 2020 due to Covid-19, organisers at the Royal Temple Yacht Club are determined to return next year.
“Ramsgate Week Regatta will be back on the 18th to 23 July 2021 and has something for everyone. Watch competitors from Belgium, Holland, France and the UK. Even if you’re not competing it’s still a great time to visit as the town is buzzing.
Good transport links mean that families can enjoy days out in Kent or even venture in to the capital for the day. Or spend the day with a picnic on the beach and watch the racing offshore.
The Regatta is simply a back drop for the events happening around the harbour. Look out for special deals, live music, family shows and other attractions in local pubs, bars and restaurants.”
https://www.ramsgatetown.org/
Visit Thanet – find whats on locally what ever time of the year
The fresh sea air fizzes with energy in Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. Here seaside kitsch is cool and everything from ice cream parlours to boutiques has a hip, retro vibe. In the Isle of Thanet you’ll discover a rejuvenated theme park, reinvented economies and a reimagined arts and culture scene.
It’s a place to be playful. Ride a vintage rollercoaster, build sandcastles, surf. On the Isle of Thanet 15 sandy beaches and bays and a string of pretty villages link Georgian and Victorian resorts. Here boldness and vision have given classic seaside heritage a new lease of life.
visitthanet.co.uk
https://www.visitthanet.co.uk/whats-on/find-events/
The GOLF Open will come to Sandwich 11th-18th July 2021
The GOLF Open will come to Sandwich
One of the world’s great sporting events will be hosted in little old Sandwich.
The prestigious golf championship is returning to Royal St George, bringing hundreds of thousands of fans to Kent with it.
11th-18th July 2021
We will see the event take place for the 149th time.
It is the 15th time it has been to Kent.
https://www.theopen.com/royal-st-georges-149th-open/
Turner Contemporary – England’s Creative Coast – 1 Apr 2020 – 30 Nov 2020 – FREE ENTRY
England’s Creative Coast
Discover 7 extraordinary new art commissions by leading contemporary artists in the landscape of Kent, Essex and Sussex.
Seaside towns thriving with creativity, breathtaking coastal landscape and some of the most thought-provoking contemporary art being produced today – England’s Creative Coast spans 1,400km of shoreline from the South Downs to the Thames Estuary. In 2020, seven new site-specific artworks by seven international contemporary artists – Andreas Angelidakis, Mariana Castillo Deball, Holly Hendry, Jasleen Kaur, Katrina Palmer, Pilar Quinteros and Michael Rakowitz – will connect the coastlines of Essex, Kent and East Sussex and the world-class arts organisations in these places.
The Waterfronts series of artworks will be set in the landscape of Margate, Folkestone, Hastings, Bexhill-on-Sea, Eastbourne, Gravesend and Southend-on-Sea. Launching in spring 2020, these temporary works will open sequentially over the summer and be on display until late autumn.
Taking the border between land and water as their inspiration, each artist will respond to these unique coastal locations, focusing on issues, stories and questions related to the area to offer fresh perspectives on each place.
Turner Contemporary is working with Michael Rakowitz to create an artwork for Margate.
- Michael Rakowitz (b.1973, New York. Lives and works in Chicago) is working with Turner Contemporary for Margate
- Mariana Castillo Deball (b.1975, Mexico City. Lives and works in Berlin) is working with Towner Eastbourne
- Holly Hendry (TBC. Lives and works in London) is working with De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea
- Andreas Angelidakis (b. 1968, Athens, Greece. Lives and works in Athens) is working with Hastings Contemporary
- Pilar Quinteros (b.1988 Santiago, Chile. Lives and works in Santiago) is working with Creative Folkestone as part of Folkestone Triennial 2020
- Jasleen Kaur (b.1986 Glasgow. Lives and works in London) is working with Cement Fields in Gravesend
- Katrina Palmer (b.1967, London. Lives and works in London) is working with Metal in Southend-on-Sea
England’s Creative Coast encompasses a whole cultural travel experience. Through the world’s first art Geotour, you will be able to game as you move through the landscape, discovering the commissioned artworks, finding hidden gems and stories collecting geocaching rewards and hidden gems along the way.
To plan your trip to see these time-limited artworks you can curate your own journey using the England’s Creative Coast itinerary website and find further cultural adventures across Essex and West Sussex.
Art reactivates the cultural and economic circuit of an entire region: thanks to a project that unites the coasts of the south-east of England, with environmental works and initiatives. When we say England we think only of London (error!). The British island has much more to offer and England’s Creative Coast intends to prove it.
Turner Contemporary – Antony Gormley: Another Time – Sat 19 Aug 2017 – Sun 1 Nov 2020 – FREE ENTRY
Antony Gormley: Another Time
ANOTHER TIME is a series of one hundred, solid cast-iron figures by Antony Gormley that explore the experience of being human.
The history of western sculpture has been concerned with movement.
I wish to celebrate the still and silent nature of sculpture. The work is designed to be placed within the flow of lived time.
– Antony Gormley
Turner Contemporary is thrilled to confirm that the Antony Gormley sculpture ANOTHER TIME will be staying in Margate for another two years. The cast iron statue that was installed on Fulsam Rock beside Turner Contemporary in summer 2017 has been granted an extension and will remain in situ until November 2020.
ANOTHER TIME is a series of one hundred, solid cast-iron figures by Antony Gormley who is known for his sculptures and installations that explore the experience of being human, of inhabiting a human body.
The sculpture in Margate becomes visible about 3 hours before low tide, so to be sure of seeing it, check the daily tide times.
Individual sculptures from ANOTHER TIME have been installed all over the world, from the River Thames in London to Kunisaki in Japan. A figure has been positioned on Fulsam Rock on the Margate foreshore, visible at low tide from our first floor balcony and from the shoreline behind the gallery. Two sculptures from the series are also sited in Folkestone as part of Double Edge, Folkestone Triennial 2017.
Antony Gormley describes these isolated forms, cast from his own body as “an attempt to bear witness to what it is like to be alive and alone in space and time”. Made from iron, a material more usually associated with heavy industry, the industrial method of casting the sculpture is readable on its surface, whilst invisible joint lines reveal the way the plaster mould was divided and reassembled prior to casting.
The figures in this series are identical to the hundred sculptures of ANOTHER PLACE (2007), permanently sited on Crosby Beach in Liverpool. Whilst each work in ANOTHER PLACE faces the horizon, those in ANOTHER TIME all have a different orientation.
Antony Gormley (born 1950) began creating sculptures cast from his own body in 1981. His works have been shown in exhibitions and public locations internationally. He is known for his public sculptures The Angel of the North in Gateshead (1998) and Event Horizon (2007-2015), which has been shown in London, New York, Sao Paolo and Hong Kong.
ANOTHER TIME is organised by Turner Contemporary in partnership with Folkestone Triennial 2017 (2 Sept 2017 – 5 Nov 2017).
Broadstairs Food Festival – Annual Event – 2021 TBC
The Broadstairs Food Festival is a celebration of the abundance of good local food and drink to be found in Thanet and Kent: fabulous meats, cheeses, artisan breads, pickles, jams and relishes, mouth-watering cakes and pastries and Quex crisps all washed down with Kent wines, ciders and ales every October.
2021 Festival Dates:
Food Festival – the main event – TBC
FREE ENTRY – 3 day festival of Kent’s finest food and drink
Broadstairs Folk Week – Annual Event 6th – 13th August 2021
ABOUT FOLK WEEK
Everyone has a different Folk Week – ask 50 people what is their favourite part of the festival and they will each tell you something completely different!
It’s a traditional folk music and dance festival – that’s how it began – and that remains right at the heart of Folk Week. Over the past 54 years, the festival has become a magnet for people who love authentic music, the opportunity to dance and sing and meet up with an extended family of every generation and from around the world.
Our festival-goers love discovering new bands, seeing old favourites and chancing upon things you would never expect to see at a folk festival!
Whether you are a family looking for child-friendly events, have lots of energy to burn off dancing or singers and musicians seeking out a session – with around 70 events a day, you’ll find something to entertain you from early till late. You can tailor make your festival experience to suit you.
broadstairsfolkweek.org.uk
6th – 13th August 2021
Here is a link to the line up’s:
WHAT TO EXPECT
Broadstairs is almost like a Cornish fishing village – perched on the coast at the end of Kent and Folk Week happens almost everywhere in the town.
There’s hardly a venue that isn’t bursting with song, music and dance. There is a mix of ticketed and free events – and you can come for one ticketed event in one venue – or buy a whole week’s all-in ticket that gets you into all the venues.
You can find Folk Week by the beach in the Pavilion on the Sands or the Sailing Club; in the town’s historic Crampton Tower and the modern Baptist Centre –as well as in loads of pubs and cafes – and of course – along the promenade at the Bandstand, overlooking beautiful Viking Bay. It’s a great way of getting to know Broadstairs!
The Festival Campsite is located at a local school – and one of the benefits of coming to this chalky corner of East Kent is that the fields are free-draining – so no Glastonbury style mud in Broadstairs!
Overlooking the beach on the clifftop Victoria Gardens, there’s a special Craft & Music Fair with a huge variety of ceramics, clothing, musical instruments, paintings, jewellery and gifts with free entry.
And next door is the bandstand, a totally free venue which hosts the ever-popular Hobby Horse Club with the madcap Hooden Horses and Clarence the Dragon.
And last but not least, Folk Week wouldn’t be the same without the hard-working morris dancers who bring colour and eccentricity to the streets and shows around the town.
Folk Week has plenty of opportunities to join in – whether you just drag grandpa onto the dance-floor for a bit of a swing around at the lunch-time Family Ceilidh or you’d like to brush up your ukulele strum – there’s a range of singing, dancing and playing dances, workshops and sessions for all different ages and abilities.
You can sing shanties on the jetty, playalong in the pub sessions or get into Appalachian clogging.
Whatever Folk Week you want to find – we hope to see you in 2019!
Margate Pride – Annual Event – Date TBC 2021
Margate Pride: parade, afternoon rally and celebration of the diversity of love in Margate. Find more info below:
We are so proud of our pride! A simple, but beautiful parade from Cliftonville to the main sands, inspiring speakers from across the LGBTQ+ community and local talent performing.
We aim to provide something for everyone, so if you don’t see yourself reflected, please get in touch, it is everyones pride.
Join us as Margate Pride joins the UK pride map as an alternative, quirky, artistic, community focused, fun, kind and loving pride for all!
Margate Soul Festival – Annual Event 6th-8th August 2021
Margate Soul Festival
6th-8th August 2021
A great weekend of fun with the family, this is all held along Margate seafront.
margatesoulfestival.co.uk
Broadstairs Dickens Festival – Annual Event 18th-20th June 2021
About
Charles Dickens visited Broadstairs in Kent regularly from 1837 until 1859 and immortalised the town as “Our English Watering Place”.
In 1937, to commemorate the centenary of the author’s first visit, Gladys Waterer, the then resident of Dickens House, conceived the idea of putting on a production of David Copperfield and of having people about the town in Victorian dress to publicise it.
Tickets
Many of the Festival events are free, but for those that require tickets, you can download the advance booking form.
Tickets can also be purchased from the Customer Service desk on Victoria Gardens during the Festival, subject to availability.
www.broadstairsdickensfestival.co.uk
Margate Winter Gardens
The Winter Gardens has a long and fascinating history dating back to 1911. The building itself is a fine example of Edwardian Architecture and has retained its charm and atmosphere. The venue has always been an important attraction to Margate and has adapted itself to meet the changing needs of its customers over many years.
www.margatewintergardens.co.uk
Events can be found here: