Kent
Margate's Dreamland set to open to revellers
- 39 minutes ago
- Kent
A funfair that formed the centrepiece of seaside days out for generations of day-trippers is reopening after an £18m restoration.
Dreamland will have 17 vintage fairground attractions from funfairs around the UK in its reincarnation as a heritage amusement park.
The site on Margate seafront has been closed for 10 years, with campaigners fighting to save it from development.
But it is having to reopen without the Scenic Railway star attraction.
The wooden Grade II*-listed rollercoaster, badly damaged in an arson attack in 2008, will not be restored in time but Dreamland hopes it will be ready in the coming months.
"It's a very, very complex project because this is such a rare structure," said chief executive Eddie Kemsley.
"There isn't a blueprint out there we can pull off a shelf and say, 'this is how you rebuild a scenic railway'."
Dreamland holds happy memories for Margate residents as well as the thousands of Londoners who flocked there in its heyday.
Patricia Briscoe, now 85, met her husband, who was serving in the RAF at nearby Manston airport, in its ballroom in 1948.
"He was dancing but saw me and came and asked me to dance," she said.
"He was so lovely, and I went back to my friends and said, 'I like him'.
"We have been married 64 years, since 1951."
The funfair, with its weekly fireworks displays, added to the fun of Margate as a traditional seaside destination.
"When we were kids everybody was there - all the Londoners used to come down every weekend," said Jim Needham.
"They'd all be singing in the pubs and the kids would be on the beach.
"We used to to go into Dreamland for the whole day and get lost.
"It was a shame when it shut.
"I can't wait for it to open again - the grandchildren are buzzing."
100 years of fun
1920 Dreamland opens with Scenic Railway rollercoaster
1939 Site requisitioned by the government and closed for the duration of World War Two
2002 Scenic Railway rollercoaster gets Grade-II listed status
2005 Site sold to Margate Town Centre Regeneration Company. Save Dreamland Campaign set up
2008 Scenic Railway badly damaged in arson attack.
2012 Thanet District Council approves compulsory purchase order. Wayne Hemingway becomes theme park designer
2013 Council takes over ownership of the site
2015 First phase of new Dreamland opens on 19 June
Dreamland's decline coincided with Margate's own.
The rot began to set in for many traditional seaside towns during the 1960s as holidaymakers were lured abroad by sunshine package holidays.
"The world moved on and we have now got to make this a site that moves with the world," said Wayne Hemingway, Dreamland's artistic director.
The restoration work, funded by contributions from the council, the government and the Heritage Lottery Fund, has been hit by setbacks including a fire in the roof of a two-storey building in May.
But Ms Kemsley insists everything except the Scenic Railway will be ready on opening day.
Hundreds of workmen have been on site all week, and were still adding finishing touches on Thursday.
The park opens at 10:00 BST on Friday, with acts including Chas and Dave - whose single Margate reached number 46 in 1982 - and Marina and the Diamonds playing to sold-out crowds in the evening.
"We will be ready to go - absolutely," said Ms Kemsley.
"We're so excited. We're sold out and we can't wait to let people through the doors."
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