WELCOME TO RAMSGATE

 

Many thanks to TDC for putting the sign back to. “WELCOME TO RAMSGATE" 

Sorry about the lack of blog posts recently here at Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate we have been much busier than I would expect in June.

Sign of the Times

 

I complained about this sign to TDC by email

On Friday, 10 April 2026 at 15:57:50 BST, michaelchild@aol.com <michaelchild@aol.com> wrote:


Hello

I wish to complain about the sign on the London Road coming into Ramsgate. See photo (taken yesterday) attached.

I used to alternate between saying "Welcome to Ramsgate" and various other messages, it then got stuck on saying "Please park in designated places" I think this is an entirely inappropriate and unnecessary message to display to people coming into a tourist town.

I would also like to ask the following as an FOI request.

1 Which council is responsible for this sign?

2 Which council department is responsible for this sign?

3 What have been the costs of supplying and maintaining this machine?

Best regards Michael
http://michaelsbookshop.blogspot.co.uk/ Pictures of books going out on the shelves in my bookshop
http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/ My general pictures and writing
Due to the nature of Clown Computing this email has been sent to you from some sort of fruit, it may make you more comfortable to know the following:- If it makes sense, it was sent by my PineApple Device, which has an ordinary keyboard. If it contains random wrong words, it was sent by my RaspBerry Device, which has predictive text and a small screen that I can’t always see properly. If it makes no sense whatsoever, it was sent by my new BaNana Device, with which I develop the persona of a chimpanzee and hit keys randomly hoping it will produce the works of Shakespeare, or at least something coherent

Contraband Corner Smuggling in Thanet Legends and Folklore

 “Contraband Corner Smuggling in Thanet Legends and Folklore” booklet. Back in 1986 there was a project in Thanet run through the Manpower Service Commission this booklet. It was compiled by a group of local historians, Peter Douch, Gillian Hinton, Margaret Irving, Timothy Jones, John Land, Caroline Mills, Robert Parker, John Williams.

The booklet itself was published as crown copyright and at that point its reprinting became something of a matter of Thanet local history as the copyright is held by the government and the only book on smuggling in Thanet became very rare and expensive. 

I have now just received permission to reprint it and have produced a cheap facsimile (A5 staple bound £5.99) which is available at Michael's Bookshop in Ramsgate.

Sample pages

A5 size staple-bound booklet, reprint of the 1986 publication. The text is quite small but well spaced. Some of the photographs are grainy and too dark for definition. B&W illustrations, but overall an interesting read. Smuggling in the Thanet towns with descriptions of their haunts, the development of the coastguard, Customs and Excise services, Glossary of smuggling terms, custom's reports from the Thanet area, important dates in the history of smuggling, and some poems. Also includes newspaper reports, maps of the tunnels and caves in Thanet, and a bibliography.

If it proves popular I will do an enhanced edition sometime.