Mechanical Memories Magazine

Editorial
Hello, and a very happy New Year to you all. As you can see, once again the 'must get
the magazine out on time ' New Year's resolution didn't get very far. Actually, the
only resolution I made this year was 'don't make resolutions you can't keep ' ..... .. So
far, it's working quite well.
As you will all know, the campaign to reopen Margate ' s Dreamland as a heritage
park is a subject very close to my heart, and it is now over two years ago that I asked
Nick Laister, chairman of the Dreamland Trust, to write a monthly report for this
magazine. It was hoped that Dreamland would reopen this year; in fact, I recall there
was at one time a small chance that it might have opened last year. Unfortunately,
negotiations with the landowners were getting nowhere, as a result of which, Thanet
District Council were forced to serve a compulsory purchase order on the owners last
year. The CPO inquiry is being held as I write this, and Nick will of course be in
attendance throughout.
Due to the inquiry, Nick has been unable to write his report this month, so I took
it upon myself to write of few lines instead. However, it seems I got a bit carried away
and my few lines turned into four pages! So apologies to those readers who have no
interest in Dreamland, although I do hope they will be very few.
And finally, it's been some time since we've had a caption competition. I've printed
one of my saucy seaside postcards on the front cover, with the caption omitted (it's in
colour by the way - did you notice)? So think of a caption, (you can have as many
goes as you like) and get them back to me either by post or email. I'm hoping the
February issue won' t be as late as this, so please them back ASAP. As usual, the
winner gets a free year's subscription.
Well that's it for now
All the best
Jerry
Page 3