Jewish Cliftonville West: Navy roots, healing holidays, fierce balabustas, kosher battles, and margarine dreams by the seaside.

Cliftonville West Jewish History Walking Tour – Evening Edition

Start time: 1:30 PM | Meeting point: Cliftonville TBC - You will receive an email with the exact location | Duration: 2.5 hours (approx.)

Please note: This tour includes a visit inside ARK (https://www.arkcliftonville.com/), the former Margate Hebrew Congregation Synagogue building.

Now, you’re in for a treat, my darlings! Join us for an early evening strolling schmooze through the hidden Jewish history of Cliftonville West, right here in Margate-by-the-Sea. This ain’t just any old walk – it’s a journey through time, tradition, tragedy, and triumph, with a little sea breeze and maybe a touch of golden hour magic.

We’ll kick things off 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 in the evening light, we’ll celebrate the Jewish doctor who turned Margate into a health mecca, prescribing sea air and a shmear of sunshine before it was trendy. We’ll nosh on stories of brave balabustas, fierce landladies who ran the boarding houses like generals, many escaping no-goodnik husbands and forging new lives with a broom in one hand and a kugel in the other.

You’ll hear how this tenacious community battled to keep kosher on the coast, fighting for matzos and meat, 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, 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 walking 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!

Description supplied by the event organiser.