A WINDOW ON DALBY SQUARE

 Two exhibitions about the life, history and future of Cliftonville’s Dalby Square are to take place next month (August).


The exhibitions form part of development stage of the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), jointly funded by Thanet District Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund.
On Thursday 2 August, Friday 3 August and Saturday 4th, the first exhibition will take place at 30 Dalby Square and will show a project undertaken earlier in the year by students from Kent School of Architecture at the University of Kent.


The Architecture School project focused on the conversion of 30 Dalby Square into an ‘art hotel’, with the building adapted to contain a series of living spaces, studios and communal areas. The brief encouraged the students to be as imaginative as possible in demonstrating how a Victorian building might be converted into a twenty-first centaury facility.


Also in the exhibition will be a display of historical research about the Square, as well as work of the Design for Future Climate Change project. This work speculates on how Dalby Square will look in the year 2080, and how the 1870s buildings of the Square might be adapted for the future.
The second exhibition takes place at Fort’s Café in Clifton Terrace and the Dalby Café in Dalby Road. Showing portraits of the residents of Dalby Square taken in October 2011 by the world-famous photographer Martin Parr. The exhibition is a precursor to the Margate Photo Fest and takes place throughout August.


Both of these exhibitions are financed by monies already allocated by the Lottery and Thanet District Council towards a submission to the Lottery for a heritage grant scheme similar to the ones already operated in Margate Old Town and along Ramsgate seafront.


The council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services, Cllr Iris Johnston, said: “Dalby Square has a fascinating past and a very bright future, and it’s wonderful that the exhibitions celebrate the area. Dalby Square forms an integral part of the council’s regeneration work, and the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund has enabled us to support the area and its residents.”


She added: “I’m so pleased that students from the Kent School of Architecture have been inspired by Dalby Square, and that the photographer Martin Parr has taken such amazing pictures of local people. I hope that many people in Thanet get a chance to see the exhibitions and be impressed by what they see.” 

Dalby Square exhibition to be held at 30 Dalby Square on Thursday 2 August, Friday 3 August and Saturday 4 August from 11am to 5pm (by kind permission of the building's owners Sanctuary Housing Association).


Photographic exhibition opens Thursday 9 august at 6pm, to be held at Fort's Café Clifton Terrace – (Monday – closed Tuesday – closed, Wednesday – closed, Thursday 9am – 11pm Friday 9am – 11pm Saturday 9am – 11pm Sunday 9am – 5pm. And held at the Dalby Café, Dalby Road, every day 6.30am to 3pm.

photographs by permission of Martin Parr.