Meanwhile, the scaffolding work on the Cinema building is now complete and ready for
contractors lo begin work. 41 companies responded to our advertisement and 23 have
submitted a tender. Exciting limes ahead indeed, as we eagerly wait to see who will be
joining the Dreamland team next!
To tell Margate's visitors about the work we arc doing and the plans for the future
Dreamland, The Dreamland Trust has commissioned a 25m hoarding in front of the
Marine Terrace Gap. The artwork is being designed by local finn, Designmap, and will
be part of a wider promotion for this summer to include a set of special edition
postcard-;, which will no doubt become collector's items. The postcards will be available
in the Visitor information Centre, local businesses and the Thanet Gateway.
And I am sure that the readers of Mechanical Memories Magazine will want to visit
a special exhibition at Dreamland this summer. Following the Conservative's return to
power in 1951 the work of'The King of the Saucy Postcard', Donald McGill, came into
question when the government decided to crack down on Britain's declining morals
following the Second World War. Artwork and literature deemed too rude to view by
committees of taste and decency was censored and it was the action of local prudes that
led to the prosecution and burning of McGill's postcards by the Margate magistrates
court following a series of police raids.
Dreamland Trust Board member and historian, Mandy Wilkins, has been working
with Heritage Advisor Nick Dem1ott and the British Cartoon Archive to exhibit
McGill's saucy postcards in the Margate magistrate's court. Members of the public will
be able to examine and judge for themselves whether or not McGill's postcards are too
rude to view - and it's all done in the best possible taste, of course! Dates to be
announced later this spring.
So lots going on, with things likely to accellerate over Lhe coming months as we do our
best to focus on getting Dreamland opened for 2012 instead of 2013 .
Nick Laister
Chairman, The Dreamland Trust
Jan Leandro. Audience Development Officer, The Dreamland Trust
W\VW.dreamlandmargate.com
W'-vw.savedreamland.co.uk
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