A Musical history of "The Grand" in Folkestone by Emre ARACI

Music historian Dr Emre ARACI is in search of lost sounds as he takes us on a unique and personal tour of this charming old Edwardian Grand Hotel sitting on The Leas in Folkestone.

Since preparing this video it has emerged that although Sir Edward Elgar was invited to come to Folkestone to conduct his "Enigma Variations" and "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5" at the first annual music festival held in the town in 1930, he had to pull out in the last minute due to illness and was replaced by Sir Landon Ronald.

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PRESS RELEASE, AUGUST 2020: Emre Aracı's new book on the history of The Grand is now available from Marrin's Bookshop in the town.

"The Grand Revisited"
Privately printed
Year of publication: 2020
162 pages

​Opened on 12 September 1903 as “gentlemen’s residential chambers” on the once fashionable Leas in Folkestone, The Grand quickly became a popular establishment with the London society. Headed by King Edward VII, the hotel was a magnet for members of royalty and nobility, as well as politicians, writers and musicians, who came for lengthy stays in the summer months during the gilded Edwardian age. By no means a definitive history, this illustrated book brings together vignettes of colourful stories from the Grand’s elegant past, drawn from a selection of sepia postcards, old newspaper cuttings, out-of-print books, letters and ephemera collected by composer and music historian Dr Emre Aracı.

https://marrinbook.co.uk/