Ramsgate: Anniversary celebrations at 'Pugin's Gem' church

A special celebration will take place at St Augustine’s church at Ramsgate in Kent, next Tuesday, 2 March to thank everyone who has backed the project to save and restore the Grade One listed church and develop Education, Research and Visitor facilities on the site.

The event will start at 12 noon with Sacred Music from the Victoria Consort followed by speeches from the award winning writer and journalist, Clive Aslet, Editor at Large, Country Life Magazine; leader of the project, Fr Marcus Holden, Rector of St Augustine’s church and the great great grandson of Augustus Welby Pugin, Robert Pugin Purcell, representing the Pugin family.

The day coincides with the 203rd ‘birthday’ of the church’s original owner and architect, Augustus Welby Pugin and the third anniversary of his church’s status as a Shrine to St Augustine of Canterbury who he named his church after.

The church, traditionally known as 'Pugin’s Gem' will make its final application for funds for its proposed Education, Research and Visitor Centre to the Heritage Lottery Fund on that day.

This proposed Education, Research and Visitor Centre, will tell the story of Pugin, and display some of his fine works and copies of his documents not found anywhere else in the world. It will also be the nearest dedicated location to the landing site of St Augustine, will also tell the story of how he brought Christianity to England in 597 AD.

If St Augustine’s is successful with its application for Round Two of the Heritage lottery funding for this proposed centre, it will enable it to provide a number of greatly needed facilities for the Pugin and Augustine experience: These will include:-

· The ability to display and interpret the stories of Pugin and Augustine in an exciting and engaging way within an environment which includes educational facilities;

· A dedicated research centre for Pugin, housing a unique collection of original and copied writings and drawings, not be found in one place anywhere else in the World;

· A reordering of the interior of “Pugin’s Gem” to bring the church back close to how Pugin envisaged his “perfect church”: A functioning church dedicated to St Augustine and Roman Catholic worship.

· Essential visitor facilities, including Toilets, refreshments, a shop and disabled access making the church and centre more welcoming and capable of handling the demand as St Augustine’s becomes an increasingly popular location and helps the local economy by attracting more visitors to Thanet.

The proposed centre will make the church open and accessible to all: to the local community, to families, for schools, for tourist, for pilgrims and those interested in the Heritage, Culture, Arts and Architecture. This follows from a year of pilot projects and development activity funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Thanks to a team of volunteers, the church is open every day 10am-4pm and this has helped attract more people with visitor numbers reaching a record 10,000 so far this year.

For more information see: www.augustinefriends.co.uk