We are a pathetic group of mourners...

[Sarah]

...according to the Editorial Comment in last week's Isle of Thanet Gazette.
Read on only if you are prepared to get rather angry.

"Sad Last Days of Dreamland

It has been like watching the last days of a much-loved aunt. Stripped of its dignity and most of its rides, Dreamland is suffering a lingering, hideous death. Even after its "final" cut-price weekend, it will be brought back to some sort of life for the school half-term next month, parading what few attractions it has left to offer, a feeble caricature of the vibrant, beautiful thing it once was.
A sincere, rather pathetic group of mourners even now speak earnestly (although surely in their hearts knowing otherwise) of the Old Girl pulling through.
As if somehow time can be rolled back, the dancing years return. Meanwhile, a million ghosts will look down and swap memories of the roller coaster, the big wheel, the tunnel of love and the man in the white coat who would guess your weight.
How ironic that something which owed its very appeal to its immediacy and its promise of spontaneous fun, should suffer this awful, prolonged decline.
In a perfect world it would, like all good entertainers, have quit while at the peak of its success.
Tacky, noisy joy-filled Dreamland, we loved you dearly. You will never be forgotten. And thanks for giving us so much fun."

Talk about misguided. If any of you pathetic lot would like to respond to this the email address for sending letters to the Gazette is newsdesk.thanet@kentregionalnewspapers.co.uk

Fire away.

Sarah

[Wilko]

Not overly annoyed by the article it has just been written with a very narrow mind. We all know that the site now far from it's best and that it has been in steady decline over the last decade. However the author does not see that maybe the park can be saved and has given up. It there was no chance of being saved and that it was going to gradually rot to the ground then perhas his opinion would be a lot more common.

Most of us on this site (all hopefully) are able to see potential in the site and also see that this need not be the end. If all goes as already planned Dreamland could well become the success that by rights it should already be. There can be life for the park and that may well mean not opening again until 2005 in a new form. However to work things will have to change.

[Nick]

A very strange report. The author seems to have missed one slightly important thing: the current state of Dreamland is completely artificial. It means absolutely nothing. It is being run down by its owner who wants to redevelop it. Just like most other major seaside parks, Dreamland would be booming under a different ownership. You only need to look at the recently-announced visitor numbers (see the News page), the success of the Scenic Railway this year, or the level of interest shown by major operators in taking on the park to know that the writer has made a bit of a mistake. I think that one local newspaper journalist needs to do a little bit of homework before putting pen to paper in future, or is he really that easily fooled?

It is amusing, though, to be called "pathetic"! Personally, I have always thought of people who give in at the first hurdle as pathetic, not those who fight on for what they believe in. I will leave it to our members' judgement to decide which category that journalist falls into...

Nick

[Gary]

"A sincere, rather pathetic group of mourners even now speak earnestly (although surely in their hearts knowing otherwise) of the Old Girl pulling through."

The word sincere means without deceit or pretence, truthful, honest, genuine and real. - These are very fair words to use for those efforts and people attempting to save Dreamland...So far so good.

Now for that word pathetic...Sometimes people use the word pathetic wrongly and out of context to mean stupid but I honestly don't believe it is used in that context here...HOWEVER...

The word pathetic means to arouse or express pity, to be pitifully unsuccessful or ineffective but herein lies a major problem with the article because this just isn't true when describing the 'group'.

- In no way do all those involved in the campaign arouse or express pity in themselves to which the author is inferring..quite the opposite..The campaign is full of people who have been very successful thus far and are people in whom everyone can be proud of.

I wonder what the average person in the (Margate) street thinks after reading the article?

I do have to say that I am genuinely concerned that some of the public viewing the article may view the fight as already lost or view the campaign simply as a token knee jerk reaction of a few that has come too late to Save Dreamland.

..This of course could not be further from the truth.

At the end of the day in my opinion the author seems sadly (mis)informed and assumes too much.

Besides, I don't know about you but I'm not in mourning for anything. Nothing is lost yet!

A naive piece of writing or something more deep?

Maybe the author would like to constructively talk to Joyland..Who knows?..

[David Ellis]

I think it is quite strange that the article claims we are a pathetic group of mourners, yet the complete article is written almost as an epitaph to Dreamland. Who is the pathetic mourner now?

David and Susan Ellis.

[Cheryl]

The Isle of Thanet Gazette never ceases to amaze me, I have always found their reporting on Dreamland to be largely negative. You would expect the local paper to be fighting it cause 100% knowing the impact it will have on the area.

In Birmingham we have the Evening Mail who fights to save everything. We got our General Hospital saved through their campaign and now we are about to lose our beautiful victorian Grand Hotel to the bulldozers, the Mail is out campaigning again.

Any newspaper worth its salt would be regularly keeping an eye on this website, clearly they are not. Who then are the pathetic ones? I feel quite optimistic that Dreamland will be saved, a certain newspaper will have a very large amount of egg on its face!

[Graeme]

I don't think there's anything pathetic about it.

When I've been to Dreamland over the past few years, I've had a great time riding the Frisbee, riding the Scenic Railway etc. This is genuine enjoyment, not nostalgia, which could be had a couple of years ago and could be had again very soon if Thanet lets a dedicated owner obtain the site.

I really don't think this is nostalgia or anything like that. The Scenic is a very good ride indeed - I think it's a better ride than Thorpe Park's Colossus - and if it gets saved, it won't need the public's "sympathy" to keep going. It's easily a good enough ride to hold its own, when it's in the context of a proper amusement park, of course.

[Nick]

I totally agree, Graeme. I think that the success of the Scenic - in the hands of Dave, John, Simon, et al - demonstrates that this is one ride that does not need a charity hand-out. It is more than capable of paying its way.

Truth is, I doubt there will be much support for that "pathetic" editorial, especially looking at the letters in response published in today's Gazette (including one from me on behalf of the Campaign and one from Richard Foster of the European Coaster Club)!

Nick

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

Truth is, I doubt there will be much support for that "pathetic" editorial, especially looking at the letters in response published in today's Gazette (including one from me on behalf of the Campaign and one from Richard Foster of the European Coaster Club)!

Nick

It would have been interesting to read these letters, but unfortunately I have taken the decision to stop buying either the Thanet Gazette or the Thanet Times as a result of that editorial.

It`s not just Dreamland which has fallen on hard times- I miss the old Gazette and Times, before they took the decision in the `eighties to re-format to "gutter-tabloid" style.

However neglected Dreamland looks at present, in the hands of a showman, rather than a property developer, it could look better by Easter 2004 than it has done for years. The Thanet Gazette must realise this, and realise the impact that Dreamland`s closure would have on the local economy so you can`t help wondering if they have some ulterior, financial motive for taking the stance they have.



Vince

[Sarah]

Parting with money for the Gazette sticks in my throat too - the newsagent virtually has to prise 40p out of my hand - but, in the name of research, I continue to buy it. However, in support of your boycott, am happy to type out the letters for you. Nick's was very similar to his post above. From Richard Foster, Chairman of the ECC:

"How sad to be labelled "pathetic" in your recent editorial. How sad that you can't give 100% support to the scenic railway, which has made Margate unique for more than 80 years.
The journalist who wrote this piece obviously did not attend the events that the Save Dreamland Campaign has organised over this year. They have been full of passion, enthusiasm, hope and downright fun. I never recall seeing anything remotely resembling "pathetic" or similar. Dreamland does have a future, it is a viable attraction and the story is not finished."

And from Mrs L M Hoy:

"I read, with utter horror, the piece that was published in your paper concerning the fate of Dreamland and the scenic railway. Surely, a long-standing member of the community would not be thoughtless enough to make such scathing remarks about a remarkable piece of heritage, and the only rollercoaster in history to achieve Listed Building Status.
As for the mourners of the ride - I attended the recent twenties bash and other events in aid of the scenic railway. Were these remarks written by someone who attended the events? I found that the entertainments have been lively, funny and certainly not the "Funeral of the Ride" that you seem to be implying.
However, in one respect your article was correct. It is rather sad that this can happen to a park and it can be stripped down to the core to wait for its ultimate demise.
It is articles like yours though that speed the process up - not help the cause."

I suspect the Gazette received rather a lot of emails on this subject - enough probably to fill the Letters pages.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to put them straight.

Sarah

[Vince, Charlie and Sam]

I remember visiting Draper`s Mill, which was built in the mid-1800s and saved from dereliction by volunteers in the 1970s

On one of the display boards, I was amazed to read that the local press had made almost identical sniffy comments about the people who had taken on the task of restoring the mill, and the pointlessness of saving it at the time of its restoration..

No doubt the display board is still there.

When one looks at resorts such as Brighton or Blackpool, it`s tempting to wonder what Margate would now be like had we not had to endure so many years of a weak and ineffectual local council and a weak and ineffectual local press.

Vince

[Sarah]

Cheryl wrote:

"The Isle of Thanet Gazette never ceases to amaze me, I have always found their reporting on Dreamland to be largely negative. You would expect the local paper to be fighting it cause 100% knowing the impact it will have on the area."

Way back when, the Gazette launched a Save Our Scenic campaign. Whatever happened to that little bit of initiative I wonder?

Sarah

[Marky]

Sad to see the Gazette editorial, but not surprised. I knew the current editor 20 years ago and he was cynical then - even by journalists' standards!
All we can do is react positively - we know none of us is pathetic and people such as Sarah have achieved a lot this year.
Everyone should email the Gazette letters page, preferably avoiding sinking to emotive slanging matches and not being swayed by one lazy editorial. The readers can make up their own minds which they prefer - Dreamland or a Croydon-style 'leisure' hell.

[bingocaller]

The Thanet Gazette is a total loss. The only job of a local newspaper is to report what is happening within the local community and the thoughts and feelings of local people. The problem with this paper is that it doesn't seem able to get behind important local issues, they will only be happy when every single attraction to the area has been levelled and the town is totally dead. Who the hell are they to be printing editorial of this type that in no way reflects a wider general feeling.

The standard of journalism displayed in this paper is nothing short of pathetic as are the would be writers who can only dream of working on a decent paper.