A campaign has been launched to save Margate Synagogue in Cliftonville, which has been put up for sale by the dwindling Orthodox community after it decided it could no longer manage the building.

To avoid the site being demolished or converted into flats, the campaign needs to raise around £400,000. The idea is to maintain the building as a communal venue, with hopes it can be used for both religious pursuits and cultural activities, servicing the town’s “blossoming arts scene”.

The campaign is being spearheaded by klezmer cellist Francesca Ter-Berg, who told the JC the synagogue was a “beautiful building” with the potential to be something that “celebrates the Jewish heritage and cultural contribution to the area.

“Margate was a very popular holiday destination for Jewish people from the 50s to the mid-90s.” Although vacation habits had changed, “there are a lot of Jewish people in the area who are interested in conserving [the building] and putting on Jewish events”.

She wanted the site to remain consecrated, so the remaining local Orthodox could meet for informal religious gatherings — there are not enough members to form a minyan.

The campaign hopes to attract donors to provide the initial funds to secure the building by stopping the auction, before crowdfunding the rest.

During the First World War, the then synagogue was used for prayer by Jewish soldiers stationed nearby before they went off to fight in France.

In the 1920s, the current building was constructed at a cost of around £6,000.

According to a report from 1928 from the Isle of Thanet Gazette on the laying of the building’s foundation stone, the synagogue was established to meet increasing demand from Jewish visitors.

In 2017, the shul was forced to cancel its Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur services because of a lack of numbers. It has not held formal services since then.

The Save Cliftonville Synagogue crowdfunder can be found here.