Wayne Hemingway MBE, Gerardine Hemingway MBE and HemingwayDesign selected designers for Dreamland

The Dreamland Trust is delighted to announce that multi-disciplinary designers, Wayne Hemingway MBE, Gerardine Hemingway MBE and the award-winning HemingwayDesign (www.hemingwaydesign.co.uk) team have been selected to bring forward the overall design scheme and branding for the forthcoming revival of one of the UK’s best loved amusement parks, Dreamland in Margate, Kent.

From their origins selling second hand clothes on Camden and Kensington Markets in the early 1980s, Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway built the legendary Red or Dead into a fashion design label to receive global acclaim winning the British Fashion Council’s Streetstyle Designer of the Year Award for 3 consecutive years.

In 1999 the Hemingways launched HemingwayDesign moving into urban design and regeneration which led to one of the UK’s quirkiest seaside regenerations projects, The Boscombe Overstrand in Bournemouth, winning Best Regeneration Scheme at the LGC Awards in 2010.

The Hemingways are also responsible for the award winning Vintage Festival which helped, London’s Southbank Centre celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Pageant Festival  and The Vintage Guild Weekend at The Preston Guild attracting 175,000 visitors over two days as well as owning Britain’s foremost museum of popular culture, The Land  of Lost Content.

HemingwayDesign’s impressive track record spanning urban design, regeneration, fashion, seaside heritage, vintage culture and festival is a perfect match to The Dreamland Trust’s vision for the world’s first amusement park of thrilling historic rides and a good fit for Margate’s creative and vintage vibe.

Nick Laister, Chairman of The Dreamland Trust said;

"We are really excited about HemingwayDesign’s appointment as our creative designers. Wayne and Gerardine have created some truly great places, from the transformation of Boscombe seafront to the regeneration of a rundown housing estate in Norfolk. At Dreamland, HemingwayDesign’s job will be to bring our proposals to life, and I have no doubt that they will exceed our expectations. Wayne and Gerardine and their team have a genuine passion for the British seaside and for the Dreamland Margate project. I am delighted to welcome them onto our team."

The Dreamland Margate restoration project represents a multi-million pound investment from the Department for Culture Media and Sport’s Sea Change Programme, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Thanet District Council as a major component of Margate’s regeneration programme spearheaded by the opening of the Turner Contemporary Gallery in 2011.

Morecambe born Hemingway said;

“To say we are excited about embarking on this journey to work with The Dreamland Trust, Thanet District Council, and the local community in bringing a new vibrant life to an iconic British seaside institution is a massive understatement. Having visited Margate over the past few months and seen the grassroots creative revolution that is taking place we are thrilled, nay cock a hoop at the potential of the place and can’t wait to get stuck in. We fully understand the scale of the task but with the creative community of Margate and environs we can deliver something of international significance.”

Leader of Thanet District Council, Cllr Clive Hart, said: “I’m delighted to welcome HemingwayDesign to the Dreamland project. Having such a renowned creative team on board is a real boost and I can’t wait to see our vision for the site start to take shape. We’ve always been clear that this project marks such an important part in the regeneration of Margate, and Thanet as a whole. Today’s announcement is fantastic news and I hope serves as a timely reminder that the council is serious about our aspirations for the future of this important site.”

The Dreamland Trust grew from a 6 year campaign to save the site from redevelopment and to preserve this important part of our British cultural heritage. Despite its closure Dreamland has maintained a loyal audience throughout and is appealing to new audiences with an appetite for heritage, restoration and learning.

Audience Development Officer for The Dreamland Trust, Jan Leandro, explained;

“Dreamland is a hybrid of popular culture entertainment and heritage with an enviable reputation and loyal audience. We aim to excite and thrill new audiences, shake teenagers to the core and make our grandmas weep with happiness!”

The Dreamland Trust, working in partnership with Thanet District Council, is working toward opening Stage One of the project in 2014.

Notes:

The Dreamland Trust is working in partnership with Thanet District Council (TDC) to create the world’s first amusement park of thrilling historic rides, classic side shows, vintage cafés, restaurants and gardens with special events and festivals and to celebrate this important part of our popular and youth culture heritage.

The Dreamland Trust emerged from the Save Dreamland Campaign to rescue the park and its heritage assets including:

·        The 1920 Scenic Railway - the UK’s oldest roller coaster and a Grade II* listed structure.

·        The 1935 2,200 seat Grade II* listed cinema building - a super-cinema forerunner.

·        ‘Lord’ George Sanger’s Grade II-listed menagerie cages dating back to the 1800s - believed to be the last remaining type of their kind.

The Dreamland Margate project has secured over £10m funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport’s Sea Change programme and TDC.

Dreamland’s description is an ‘amusement park of thrilling historic rides’ – it is not a

·        Heritage Amusement Park

·        Heritage Theme Park

·        Heritage Park

·        Theme Park

·        Fairground

·        Fun Park

·        Funfair

·        fair