News: good news for Margate Dreamland - 11-16-09
J McDonnell
Amusement park gets £3.7m grant
A Grade II listed rollercoaster which was badly damaged in an arson
attack will be rebuilt next year with the help of a £3.7m government
grant.
Restoration of the Scenic Railway ride, built in 1920, is central to a
scheme to save Margate's Dreamland amusement park in Kent.
The resort has received the largest grant out of seven made in the
government's 2009 Sea Change programme.
The Dreamland Trust plans to open an amusement park based on vintage
rides.
Many of the rides are in storage, after the trust rescued them from
across the UK over the past decade.
Oldest survivor
The Sea Change programme aims to regenerate rundown coastal resorts
through culture and heritage.
"It is projects like this, creating new national attractions, that can
rekindle the English love affair with our seaside," said Richard
Simmons, chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the
Built Environment.
Dreamland's Scenic Railway is the oldest surviving rollercoaster in
the UK and the fourth oldest in the world.
It has been shut since 2006 and was badly damaged in an the arson
attack last year.
Restoration of the railway and other historic rides will be carried
out alongside that of the Grade II listed Dreamland cinema building.
"This is fantastic news and is yet another very positive step to
delivering this 'world's first' visitor attraction," said chair of the
Dreamland Trust, Nick Laister.
"This proposal has the ability to create an outstanding, 21st Century
attraction at Margate, capitalising on the resort's unique heritage."
GodsOnSafari
I figured this and Conneaut were both as good as dead. Now look!
BaSSiStiSt
David Sandborg
<d23f4edb-d918-434e...@m11g2000vbo.googlegroups.com>,
J McDonnell <scopit...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The Sea Change programme aims to regenerate rundown coastal resorts
> through culture and heritage.
I wish we'd see something of the like in the US.
--
Dave Sandborg
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