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Jewish Cliftonville West: Navy roots, healing holidays, fierce balabustas, kosher battles, and margarine dreams by the seaside.Cliftonville West Jewish History Walking Tour Overview
Start time: 1:30 PM | Meeting point: Cliftonville TBC - You will receive an email with the exact location | Duration: 2.5 hours (approx.)
Now, you’re in for a treat, my darlings! Join us on a strolling schmooze through the hidden Jewish history of Cliftonville West, right here in Margate by the sea. This ain’t just any old walk - this is a journey through time, tradition, tragedy, and triumph.
We’ll start in Cliftonville (don’t be late - we run on Jewish Standard Time, which means only slightly behind schedule), where we’ll unravel the earliest threads of Jewish life in Margate - pedlars with tzitzit, no less, who came with the Royal Navy and left behind more than sea tales.
As we wander the elegant streets and faded boarding houses, we’ll celebrate the Jewish doctor who turned Margate into a health mecca, prescribing sea air and a shmear of sunshine before it was fashionable. We'll nosh on stories of brave balabustas - fierce landladies who ran the boarding houses like generals, many escaping no-goodnik husbands and forging a new life with a broom in one hand and a kugel in the oven.
You’ll hear how this tenacious community battled to keep kosher on the coast, fighting for matzos, meat, and minyanim , building synagogues and schools brick by brick, prayer by prayer. We’ll meet Kindertransport kinder who found safety here, and refugees who brought with them not just heartache, but resilience, recipes, and a hunger to belong.
And of course, you’ll never guess how kosher margarine helped build Palm Bay. Yes, margarine ! Only in Margate could such a story be true.
So, put on your comfortable shoes, bring a bottle of water, and a little curiosity, and come walk with us. We’ll laugh, maybe we’ll cry a little, but above all, we’ll remember. This is a story of survival, of making do and making better, of bringing Yiddishkeit to the seaside. Oy, it’s a tour you won’t want to miss!
Please note: Due to ongoing building works this summer, the tour will not include entry to Ark (the former Margate Synagogue). Ticket prices have been adjusted accordingly.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Cliftonville (Nr. Margate), Margate, Kent, United Kingdom
Tickets
