Miss Ramsgate Organisation

The last two years of the Miss Ramsgate Organisation and the Ramsgate Town Court have been very different, as it has been for many people. We advertised our selection date for the new Court in the Community Ad Magazine for Saturday March 7, 2020. This event went ahead and a Court of four lovely girls were chosen and crowned by the Mayor of Ramsgate, Councillor Raushan Ara.

The Queen, Miss Ramsgate 2020, was Alyssa Redford Taylor, the Princesses were Lucy Woodward and Saskia Longley and the Deputy Princess, Charley Bowell. The title of Deputy Queen, as always, goes to the previous year’s Queen, this was Alisha Maskell. The Court went out the following two Sunday evenings to selection dances in Sittingbourne and Teynham. Then the Covid-19 virus hit and everything stopped. Everybody was advised to go into isolation and all community events were cancelled.

The Court were devastated that they were unable to serve their town during their year of office and there was no sign of when the lockdown would end. The Miss Ramsgate Organisation Committee decided that the fairest thing to do would be to let the Court stand again the following year. By then, Saskia had left us and Charley Bowell had stepped up into her place as Princess.

At the start of 2021 we were still in lockdown to a certain extent and it wasn’t until the end of March when we were allowed to meet up in small groups of six people or two families. On many occasions in the past, I have been approached by mothers who have young children who would “love” to be a Queen or Princess and asked why didn’t we have a Junior Court. So as a committee we had decided to appoint a Junior Court for the year in an experiment to see how much extra it would cost, what extra work would be involved and what would Ramsgate gain from having a Junior Queen and Court plus a Rosebud Queen, as some other towns have. We chose to use the grandchildren of committee members to be our “guinea pigs” for this exercise.

Our Junior Miss Ramsgate was Leah Pearce, the Princesses were Shannon Pidduck and Evie Quint and the Rosebud Queen was Leah Pearce. They are aged between five years to 13 years.

April 11 saw the Court at their first public event. They were joining with other residents to do some litter picking at Pegwell Bay. After this there was another long lull before we could attend more events, during which, the girls chose their dresses and had dress fittings. Several Carnivals and other events were still postponed due to Covid restrictions.

On July 3, we were invited to help out at St Andrews Church in St Peters at their Open Gardens event. Deal hosted the first of the Kent Carnivals. We took the Senior Court, the Junior Court and Rosebud for their first outing. The Courts did us proud. We won 1st prizes for Best Senior Queen, Best Junior Queen and Best Rosebud, also Best Visiting Court of the Day and Queen’s Float, plus two other 3rd prizes for Senior Princess Pairs and Float Tableau. This was to be the start of a very busy time for the girls after having such a long time with nothing happening. They were invited to take part in a photoshoot for a national magazine, the photos were taken by a respected photographer, Jet Swann. The day lasted from 10am until 7pm and was a great experience for the girls and chaperones alike.

The highlight for the Courts was the Ramsgate Carnival when they played host to other visiting Carnival Courts from Kent and Essex. They led the Courts in the Fairground Arena to acknowledge the Mayor of Ramsgate and the other visiting Mayors. After the Ramsgate Carnival, they were busy again playing host to visiting Courts who accompanied the Ramsgate Courts in the Grand Parade as part of the Royal Harbour 200 Celebrations. This commemorated the Royal Title that was given to Ramsgate Harbour by King George IV.

The Courts took part in several events over the celebration weekend, helping Ralph Hoult and the other organisers of the events and being hostesses to meet and greet visitors to the harbour. Two more Kent Carnivals followed and again the Courts did Ramsgate proud, bringing home another 16 awards with 12 of them being first prize.

The Courts will carry out some more events in 2022 until Saturday March 5, when they will stand down and a new Senior Court will be chosen. If you know of any young ladies aged 14 years to 21 years living in the CT11 or CT12 postcode areas, then they are welcome to enter. There will not be a Junior Court or Rosebud in the forthcoming year. The competition will be held at the Manston Sports and Social Club at Daigor Lane off Manston High Street, opposite the Jolly Farmer Public House. Entry forms will be available from February 1, 2022, either from the Miss Ramsgate Organisation Facebook page or send a message to the Court manager on 07798 677140 to request a form and further details.

The Senior Court is not a beauty pageant, but a role to be taken seriously to work for and represent Ramsgate. We have been very proud of all the girls in the Courts this year, they have represented their town well and they should be very proud of how they have conducted themselves. Well done and good luck to those who enter next year.

Written by:
Marion Pearce,
Court Manager