The
latest news from the Save Dreamland Campaign:
Thursday, 4 March 2010
From the Thanet and East Kent Insider
(the weekly business bulletin from Thanet & East Kent Chamber):
Dreamland Wakes Up
The new Dreamland Trust
Project Director, Jonathan Bryant, will be outlining plans
to restore Dreamland as “the world's first heritage
amusement park” at a Thanet & East Kent Chamber business
breakfast on Wednesday 24th March 2010. With the project
already underway following the award last November of £3.7m
by the Department for Culture Media and Sport, Jonathan will
outline the latest details that promise to give a huge boost
to in-bound tourism in Thanet. Widely viewed as the ideal
man for the job, Jonathan brings with him senior management
experience at Birmingham’s Thinktank Science Museum, the
Jaguar Daimler Heritage Trust, Dundee’s Contemporary Art
Gallery and a host of community initiatives. He is convinced
that the new Dreamland should be run ‘as a business that
stands on its own two feet’. Local businesses are set to
benefit significantly from the increased footfall and raised
profile. The Dreamland Wakes Up business breakfast will
start at 0730 hrs at the Fayreness Hotel, Kingsgate, near
Broadstairs. Tickets cost £12.00 for Chamber members and
£15.00 for non-members. Payment is accepted in cash or by
cheque on the door. To book a place, email
manager@tekc.co.uk
with the subject line ‘Dreamland Breakfast’ and the names of
those wishing to attend. Non-members should give full
company contact details.
|
Sunday, 28 February 2010
The Something for the Weekend on 3 April event
is previewed in
Kent News.
Sunday, 21 February 2010
UPDATED
Easter event announced
The Dreamland Trust has today announced a
special event for the Easter weekend:

Click on the image below for a larger PDF version.

Monday, 15 February 2010
BBC Radio Kent broadcast a Dreamland
feature on the Breakfast show this morning with interviews with the Dreamland
Trust's Audience Development Officer Jan Leandro and Project Archivist Graham
Ward. Listen (.wav file,
60MB). It also appears on the
BBC Kent website. BBC TV South East also featured an interview
with Graham Ward on the evening news at 18.30.
Friday, 12 February 2010
Dreamland is pictured in an
article in today's Sun newspaper focussing on the decline of Margate.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
A number of meetings have taken place over the
past few weeks as plans for Dreamland Margate move forward, the most significant
of which was a Client Group meeting held in London on 21 January 2010, attended
by Nick Laister, Susan Marsh and Jonathan Bryant on behalf of the Dreamland
Trust. Also in attendance was Derek Harding of Margate Renewal Partnership, Toby
Hunter and Peter Beck of landowners MTCRC and Nick Dermott of Thanet District
Council.
The Isle of Thanet Gazette featured a
small article on the Dreamland Trust's new staff getting to work:
Dreamland team now at work
The team leading the project
to reopen Dreamland, audience development officer Jan
Leandro and archivist Graham Ward have started work in
Margate, with a project director working from London.
Mrs Leandro said:
"Dreamland Margate is developing a programme of public
events, celebrating Dreamland's heritage and youth culture."
For more information visit
www.dreamlandmargate.com
|
Sunday, 24 January 2010
|
Conference on amusement
park history announced |
| This year's
Institute for Archaeologists Conference will feature an entire morning
session devoted to amusement park heritage, and Dreamland will feature
heavily. Hosted by Jason Wood, who has provided heritage advice to The
Dreamland Trust for a number of years, the session is called
'Fairgrounds for Debate: celebrating the heritage of amusement parks'
and will run from 9.45 to 12.45 on Thursday 15 April at the Southport
Theatre & Convention Centre at Southport, Merseyside.
Six speakers will be talking on various
aspects of the history and heritage of amusement parks, from their early
twentieth-century origins to the demise of many in the early
twenty-first century.
The speakers and their subjects are: |
 |
Opening remarks
Jason Wood, Heritage Consultancy Services
The rise of the seaside amusement park:
international perspectives
John K Walton, University of the Basque Country
‘A fortune in a thrill!’ Early
amusement parks in Britain
Josie Kane, University of Westminster
Battersea Park: plans to build, plans
to forget
Ian Trowell, University of Sheffield
Last night of the fair: heritage,
culture and closure of Southport’s Pleasureland
Anya Chapman, Liverpool Hope University
Delivering the dream: saving Britain's
amusement park heritage and the reawakening of Margate's Dreamland
Nick Laister, RPS Planning and Development & The Dreamland Trust
Places can be
booked online and, although the conference runs for three days,
it is possible to book for the Thursday only.
Click here for more details of the morning amusement parks session ('Fairgrounds
for Debate' features on Thursday 15
April).
IfA Conference website |
Saturday, 16 January 2010
|
Coast magazine highlights
Dreamland |
| The February
issue of Coast
magazine features Dreamland prominently, as the first in a new series
called 'Save Our Seaside'. The Editor's message on Page 7 explains:
"...this month we are launching our Save Our Seaside campaign (or SOS
for short) to highlight the plight of coastal buildings that have fallen
on hard times. The campaign starts on page 20, with the inspiring story
of Margate's Dreamland pleasure park, rescued by campaigners. They've
proved that grass roots lobbying can change things for the
better. Let's see what difference we can make."
"CASE ONE: Dreamland, Margate" is on pages
20 and 21, where architectural historian Allan Brodie starts the series
with "the makings of a success story" as he briefly sets out the history
of Dreamland, bringing it right up-to-date with the park's closure and
Scenic Railway fire. The article states:
"Work is about to begin on the creation
of the world's first heritage amusement park, due to open in 2012.
Thirteen vintage rides have been collected and there are plans to obtain
another 15." Magazine website |
 |
Saturday, 19 December 2009
|
First interview with
Dreamland project director |
| New Dreamland
Trust project director Jonathan Bryant has given his first interview in
this week's Thanet Times. In the interview he sets out his vision for
the park:
"I have worked on a number of heritage
projects in the past but too many museums take themselves too seriously.
I like this project because it is rooted in fun. I also believe a
heritage project like this needs to be run as a business that stands on
its own two feet, and that means making a place that people want to go
to and will be willing to part with money to visit.”
Full interview...
Margate Historical Society blog features a downloadable article
about Dreamland in the 1930s. |

Dreamland
Trust Project Director Jonathan Bryant (right), pictured with Trust
chairman Nick Laister and honorary secretary Susan Marsh. |
Saturday, 12 December 2009
|
New Dreamland project director
starts work |
| Work on the
world's first amusement park of thrilling historic rides took a leap
forward on Thursday with new Dreamland Trust Project Director Jonathan
Bryant on his first official meetings in Margate in his new role.
Jonathan joined Nick Laister, Sarah Vickery and Susan Marsh in
representing The Dreamland Trust at the first Client Group meeting since
his appointment. Also attending the meeting were Derek Harding of
Margate Renewal Partnership, Peter Beck of site owners MTCRC and Nick
Dermott of Thanet District Council.
Jonathan then joined his two new team
members, Jan Leandro and Graham Ward at the Dreamland site as Nick
Laister, Peter Beck and Nick Dermott showed the Trust's new staff around
the Dreamland Cinema building and the amusement park to see the
challenge that lies before them. They paused briefly for a photo
opportunity (right).
Jonathan, Jan and Graham were then
introduced to various key people in the Dreamland project with whom they will be working over the
coming months, with a small welcome celebration in the evening. |

Ready for the challenge: Dreamland
Trust Project Director Jonathan Bryant (right) in Dreamland with two members of
his new team, Audience Development Officer Jan Leandro and Project
Archivist Graham Ward. (Click for larger version). |
Thursday, 10 December 2009
|
The Dreamland Trust
appoints Project Director |
The Dreamland Trust today
announces the appointment of Jonathan Bryant as its Project Director.
Jonathan will be responsible for implementing the world’s first
amusement park of thrilling historic rides at Dreamland Margate
following the award of grant funding from Heritage Lottery and the
Government’s Sea Change programme.
With a wealth of experience in the heritage and leisure sectors and in
business leadership, Jonathan, who’s originally from East London,
established the UK’s first brewing museum and opened a working coal mine
to the public in Staffordshire. In Scotland he led the City of Dundee’s
renaissance Discovery project as chief executive and on the River Thames
set up Henley’s River & Rowing Museum, which won the coveted Museum of
the Year Award and was short listed for the Stirling Prize for the work
of its architect David Chipperfield – also project architect for
Margate’s Turner Contemporary.
More recently Jonathan project directed
Birmingham’s Thinktank Science Centre and for the last five years has
been member of British Waterways’ senior management team. |
 |
| He is also an active
volunteer in the cultural & heritage sector and has served as chairman
of the Association of Independent Museums, trustee and chairman of
Dundee’s contemporary art gallery, trustee of Jaguar Daimler Heritage
Trust and, currently, chairman of Watermen’s Hall Preservation Trust in
London. He has one daughter aged six and is a keen cinema goer, walker
and motorcyclist. Chairman of The
Dreamland Trust, Nick Laister, said: “I would like to welcome Jonathan
to The Dreamland Trust. He has a reputation for action and for
successfully bringing forward first-class heritage attractions delivered
with commercial and creative flair. With Jonathan’s excellent track
record, I am sure that we will be able to deliver a Dreamland that
Margate can be proud of.”
The Dreamland Margate project is being led by The Dreamland Trust, a
not-for-profit company. The Trust is developing an exciting theme park
from the past on the Dreamland site, giving visitors to Margate an
opportunity to enjoy spectacular historic amusement park rides. The
rides will be built around the centre piece of the park, the Scenic
Railway, the oldest surviving roller coaster in the UK and the fourth
oldest in the world. Restoration work will also be carried out on the
Grade II*-listed Dreamland cinema building, creating a major new visitor
attraction of international significance.
Jonathan Bryant says: “I am inspired by all that The Dreamland Trust and
its partners have achieved to date and am looking forward to bringing
Dreamland back to life as a firm family favourite for the 21st century.”
Jonathan joins The Dreamland Trust in January 2010. Jonathan is
currently interim chief executive at Hornsey Town Hall Creative Trust
which is working with Haringey Council to refurbish and develop the
1930’s listed civic buildings and assembly hall. From January his
commitments to Dreamland and Hornsey Town Hall will run concurrently.
The Trust has also appointed Jan Leandro as Audience Development Officer
and Graham Ward as Project Archivist, both of whom start in January
2010.
The news was covered today by UK
attractions industry magazine
Attractions Management and Us industry magazine
Amusement Today. |
Monday, 7 December 2009
|
Auction of rare book for
The Dreamland Trust |
| One of the finest books written on the
subject of a single amusement park and now very rare is the
glossy hardback
Blackpool Pleasure Beach: A Century of Fun by Peter Bennett,
published in 1996 to celebrate 100 years of the park. The Pleasure Beach
is also the source of some of the rides currently in storage for the
Dreamland Margate project, such as the Whip, Junior Whip and Astro
Swirl, the first meteorite ride to operate in a UK amusement park.
Simon Whitehead has kindly
donated this book to the Trust and Joyland Books is selling it on the
Trust's
behalf. 100% of the
proceeds of this sale will go towards building the world's first amusement park of
thrilling historic rides at Dreamland Margate.
This book is currently for sale as an
auction item at the Joyland Books
Secondhand Shop.
Click here to go straight to the auction. This auction closes on
Sunday 20th December 2009. The current highest bid will be displayed
here on a daily basis. |

Blackpool Pleasure Beach - A Century of
Fun |
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Arts Council England, one of the Dreamland
Trust's partners in the Dreamland development, features the news of Dreamland's
Sea Change success
prominently on its website, including a very supportive quote from Pam
Alexander, Chief Executive of SEEDA.
Click here to
view.
The Stage, the UK's leading newspaper
for theatre and the performing arts, has given a major splash to Dreamland this
week.
Click here to view the online article.
The article also featured in the print edition. Theme park industry magazine
Park World also covers the story.
Other websites covering the news this week
include news website
Banmoco,
Kent Coastal Network, Dutch theme park website
Theme Park Vision and
Architects Journal,
which features an article called 'Top 5: Rollercoaster Architecture', inspired
by the Dreamland news! There is also a photo feature on
urban75.org.
Monday, 23 November 2009
UPDATED
| News coverage of the £3.7m grant
continues, with a major double page spread in Friday's Isle of Thanet
Gazette. There has also been further
blog discussion
here. |
Saturday, 21 November 2009
| The news of Dreamland's funding
appears in Kent on Saturday
and you can watch Margaret Hodge being shown around the Dreamland site
by Nick Laister and Sandy Ezekiel on
YourKentTV. |
 |
Friday, 20 November 2009
|
More
Dreamland in the media! |
| News of the £3.7m grant
has continued to interest local and national media.
Your Thanet featured an
article about the grant, with an interview with Margaret Hodge in which
she revealed her memories of childhood visits to Dreamland and rides on
the Scenic Railway! Click on the image to the right for a larger
version. The short piece about
Dreamland on ITV1's Meridian Tonight is currently viewable on the
ITV.com
website.
The
Culture 24 website features the Dreamland news prominently.
Attractions Management also featured the news, as
did
InterPark and
Planning Magazine.
The £3.7m grant is also creating much
excitement at the
Save
Dreamland Forum and at the
Thanet Waves blog (which features the front cover of the Thanet
Times, for those who are not in the area).
|
 |
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
UPDATED
|
Dreamland in the media! |
| Margaret Hodge MP
visited Margate yesterday to announce the seven resorts that are to
benefit from this year's Sea Change funding.
It was fitting that she announced the
2009 funding from Dreamland Margate, which is the biggest recipient of
funding this year.
Nick Laister (Chair of The Dreamland
Trust), Derek Harding (Margate Renewal Partnership), Peter Beck and Toby Hunter
(Dreamland owners MTCRC) showed the
Minister for Culture, Media and Sport around the Dreamland site and
explained to her exactly what this funding will achieve.
Pictured to the right in front of the
Scenic Railway (l to r): Nick Laister, Margaret Hodge MP, Roger Gale MP,
Sandy Ezekiel, Derek Harding and Peter Beck.
There have been numerous reports of the
visit and the £3.7m grant. Here are some of the most interesting: |

Click on the image above to view a
larger version. Photograph:
Thanet District Council |
Television:
The BBC's South East Today
covered the news, including interviews with Nick Laister and Margaret
Hodge MP and footage of the visit on both the lunchtime and evening
news. Click here
to view the lunchtime news and
here to
view the extended coverage in the evening news.
ITV1's Meridian News in the south east
also gave extensive coverage in the evening news.
Click here to view.
Radio:
BBC Radio 2 News covered the
Dreamland story on Monday morning and BBC Radio Kent featured the news item prominently all day, generally
based around interviews with Nick Laister and Derek Harding.
Click here to listen
to a lengthy item about Dreamland on the Andy Garland show, with
listeners phoning in with their thoughts on the project and interviews
with site owner Toby Hunter and Dreamland Trust chair Nick Laister.
Nick
Laister also appeared on KMFM and Heart FM.
Internet:
The following websites carried news of
Dreamland's cash injection:
BBC News website,
Kent News,
Leisure Management Magazine and property website
TheMoveChannel.
Newspapers:
There has been much coverage in the
local and national press:
Kent Online (including an audio recording of Margaret Hodge in
which she talks about how much she likes the Dreamland proposals),
The Isle of Thanet Gazette, a somewhat inaccurate report about Prince
Charles setting up a vintage amusement park(!) in the
Daily Express along with
a similar report in the
Daily Mail.
Magazines:
Building Magazine and
Regeneration & Renewal Magazine.
Blogs:
|
|
The upbeat
Nemesis Republic, the unceasingly defeatist blog
Eastcliff Richard, some good wishes from
Thanet Waves and a mention in
Thanet Press among others.
The news is also featured on the
Thanet District Council website and the
DCMS website.
|
 |
| Whilst the media
was at Dreamland, some equally important discussions were taking place
at the Margate Media Centre as potential candidates for the
Audience Development Officer
role were interviewed by Dreamland Trustees Sarah Vickery, Mandy Wilkins
and Neil Sparkes, with Nick Dermott from Thanet District Council also in
attendance. |
Monday, 16 November 2009
|
Dreamland Margate awarded £3.7m by UK
Government |
| In the most
important landmark in the six-year campaign to save Dreamland Margate,
the Government has today announced that it has awarded £3.7m to the
project. This is the largest grant in the 2009 Sea Change programme,
funded by DCMS (Department for Culture Media and Sport), which is
designed to invigorate England’s seaside towns through investment in
culture and heritage.
It will allow the Grade II-listed
Scenic Railway roller coaster, built in 1920 and the oldest roller
coaster in the UK, to be restored to its former glory. As well as
securing the long-term future of one of the best-loved seaside
structures in the country, the funding will allow the creation of the
world’s first amusement park exclusively comprised of thrilling historic
rides.
CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) Chief
Executive Richard Simmons, who has led the project on behalf of the
Government, commenting on the seven coastal resorts that will be
receiving a grant, said: “These seven projects all demonstrate how culture can be a catalyst to
recapture the flair that these places enjoyed in their heyday. I
especially like the plan to regenerate Dreamland in Margate, and
showcase the country’s oldest rollercoaster, a listed scenic railway. It
is ambitious projects like this, creating new national attractions, that
can rekindle the English love affair with our seaside.”
The Dreamland Margate project is being led by The Dreamland Trust, a
not-for-profit company born out of the Save Dreamland Campaign. The
£3.7m grant will help to create an exciting theme park from the past on
the Dreamland site, giving visitors the chance to enjoy spectacular
historic amusement park rides. Many of these have been rescued by The
Dreamland Trust from amusement parks across the UK over the past decade
and many are the last surviving examples of their type. |

The Rt. Hon Margaret Hodge MBE is welcomed to
Dreamland by Nick Laister, chair of the Dreamland Trust. Thanet District
Council Leader Sandy Ezekiel looks on. Click on the image to view larger
photograph. Photograph: Thanet
District Council
 |
The rides will be built around the centrepiece of the park, the Scenic
Railway, the oldest surviving roller coaster in the UK and the fourth
oldest in the world. Restoration work will also be carried out on the
Grade II*-listed Dreamland cinema building, creating a major new visitor
attraction of international significance.
Nick Laister, who set up the campaign to save Dreamland and is now chair
of The Dreamland Trust, said: "This is fantastic news and is yet another
very positive step to delivering this world's first visitor attraction.
We are very pleased that CABE and English Heritage share our view, and
that of the people of Margate, that this proposal has the ability to
create an outstanding, 21st-century attraction at Margate, capitalising
on the resort's unique heritage in a way that will make a huge
contribution to the regeneration of the town.
“The Scenic Railway roller coaster has not operated since 2006 and was
badly damaged by fire following an arson attack last year. This grant
should now secure the future of this remarkable structure and allow work
to start on rebuilding it next year, along with all the other rides that
we have rescued.
“On behalf of the Dreamland Trust, I would like to thank our partners in
the bid, and in particular Derek Harding of the Margate Renewal
Partnership, Peter Beck and Toby Hunter of Margate Town Centre
Regeneration Company and Nick Dermott of Thanet District Council. We
simply could not have achieved this without them. I very much look
forward to working with them over the coming months as we reinstate
Dreamland at the heart of Margate."
The official announcement on the
CABE website can be viewed
here,
which draws attention to the fact that Dreamland was the proposal that
excited them the most. |
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
| As the tension mounts for
the results of Dreamland's application for £4m of funding from the
Government's Sea Change programme (an announcement is expected
shortly), one of the organisations behind the programme, English
Heritage, has published an article about Margate being on the verge of a
"breakthrough" in heritage-based regeneration.
The article is in the Autumn 2009 issue of
English Heritage's Conservation Bulletin magazine. Author, EH's
Planning and Development Regional Director for the South-East Region,
Andy Brown, has positive words about the Dreamland project in the
article, which is called 'A creative future for seaside resorts:
Margate, Turner and beyond':
"The rebirth of the Dreamland
amusement park would compliment (sic) perfectly the Turner Contemporary
in conserving the distinctive character of the place. In July the HLF
awarded a development grant of £384,500 which may allow the flagship
Grade II* listed cinema to become the gateway to the world’s first
amusement park exclusively of historic rides...At the time of writing, a
decision is awaited on the application to the Sea Change funding
programme for a substantial investment in this project."
Read in full... |

Conservation Bulletin: Dreamland Margate awaits Sea Change news |
Sunday, 8 November 2009
| Second round interviews
for the post of Project Director for Dreamland Margate took place
at the Margate Media Centre on 3 November 2009. The Dreamland Trust will
be making an announcement over the next couple of weeks regarding this
post. In other news, the 6
November 2009 issue of Planning Magazine, the journal of the
Royal Town Planning Institute, featured a major article on seaside
regeneration, looking at how a mix of cultural regeneration and higher
education is being increasingly seen as a way through the ongoing
uncertainty over economic prospects and restrictions on public spending.
The article, which is based around an interview with University of
Sussex director Professor Fred Gray, includes a section on Margate, with
reference to the Dreamland project.
Read Page 1 | Read Page 2 |
 |
Sunday, 1 November 2009
First round interviews for the post of
Project Director for the Dreamland Trust took place at the Margate Media
Centre on 27 and 28 November 2009. The interview panel was made up of Nick
Laister, Sarah Vickery and Neil Sparkes of the Dreamland Trust and Derek Harding
of the Margate Renewal Partnership. An announcement is expected to be made
shortly.
The Thanet Times of 27 October 2009
featured a small item of news of a funfair returning to Dreamland for one night
only.
News Archives
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009 - Heritage Lottery funding secured
June 2009 - Junior Whip acquired and Urban Panel report
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009 - heritage amusement park plans launched
January/February 2009
November/December 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008 - Scenic Railway
Fire
January/February 2008
December 2007
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