Dorren Gaze, author of Ramsgate Recollections

Review: Ramsgate Recollections by Doreen Gaze (published by Brevitas)

DOREEN Gaze, owner of the Gaze Gallery in Ramsgate and a member of the family which owns the popular Waffle House in the South Coast village, describes her book, Ramsgate Recollections, as ‘a collection of other people’s note and memories’.

“I believed Ramsgate’s colourful past was something that needed to be recorded for those coming next,” she says simply.

Gaze, who was one of several local authors who took part in the inaugural Ramsgate Literary Festival on the Heritage Day weekend, was born and schooled in Johannesburg.

In 1949 she married John Gaze and they left for a new life on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. In 1957 the couple built the Tea House of the Blue Lagoon, which apart from a break of 15 years, has been in the family. It is now the popular Waffle House.

In Ramsgate Recollections, Gaze has threaded together recollections from people who helped shape Ramsgate into a place that, as John Clarke says in the foreword, ‘upcountry bumpkins like me could enjoy for a week or two once or twice a year.’

The book also takes a closer look at the shark attacks from 1957 to 1961 which nearly crippled the local tourism industry. And there are stories about the pioneering families of the South Coast, iconic eateries like the Crayfish Inn, and how the tiny village developed over the years. A must for local history buffs.

Estelle Sinkins

Contact Ramsgate Stationers & Booksellers, 4 South Coast Mall, Beach Road, Shelly Beach, 4265 or phone 039 315 0213 for more information.