Conversations with Margate: Instigating Conversation

Margate born, left and returned, fascinated by people, uplifted by Margate, seeks conversations - bold, bustling and (potentially) edifying.

No one is whispering any more. Conversations are being had about Margate. Hailed by the annual 'Rough Guide Travel Hotlist for 2013' as "one of the world’s top 10 must-see destinations", Margate’s splendour is fast being revivified. I say ‘re-vivified’ because an appreciation for our coastal town is not just a newfound novelty, but part of a deeply ingrained nostalgia. John Betjeman, in his lesser known poem ‘Margate 1940’, looked “upon ribbons of light in the salt scented town.” In "ribbons of light", Betjeman is referring implicitly to the fairy lights that revelled on the seaside’s skyline in its amusement arcade era. There is also something to be said for the ingrained weavings of “light” and hope in a town once dilapidated and quashed as a seaside (last) resort. Ultimately, something endures within Margate – it tolerates us, it sustains us and we return its favour. In spite of the surface changes that have contributed to Margate to becoming revered again, there is something fundamentally consistent. Margate has always demanded that part of us (resident or 'Rough Guide' reader) become a tourist to the “ribbons” and the unspoken fanfare, no matter how familiar the scent of the salt. This is what I want to explore over the next few months. Not just conversations ‘about’, but conversations ‘with’, conversations ‘within’. ‘Conversations with Margate’ will be a means of preserving and capturing Margate’s most unique voices, as they stand, right now, in this moment. I want to levy a spotlight on the most instrumental, and perhaps most overlooked parts of Margate’s weave by conducting a series of interviews, come conversations and documenting them here.

Please send your questions/queries/qualms to: moyastirrup@gmail.com. I would love to hear from you. I tweet too: @MoyaStirrup

(Photos and unitalicised words are my own)