It has been reported that the Black Cab drivers who bring hundreds of disadvantaged children to Margate annually, have cancelled due to lack of support from Thanet Council.
"... I wish it could be Christmas every day.." a wise long haired rocker once said. Well he should come to Margate and visit The Centre, where the decorations have been up for 18 months now.
It is time to put a stop to this nonsense.
People are walking around in flip flops and shorts amongst the Xmas decorations for the second summer in Margate.
It's time to start the "Take them Down" campaign.
Comment below if you agree and contact the council with the demand 'Take them Down' in the subject line.
Email Thanet District Council HERE
Someone had the insight to post this picture on the front at Margate.
It did say
"Margate....Twinned with Peckham"
Someone has ripped that bit away.
I haven't been to Peckham but if it is the benchmark for gaugeing Margate's decline then I feel sorry for it.
A local Artist has written in The Independent newspaper about her sadness for Margate.
Tracey Emin, famous for her bed-that-looks-like-mine-when-I-was-15-but-worth-£150,000, has a cloumn in the national newspaper and has written about how she grew up in the Town.
She tells how she dreads coming back to visit because everything is shutting or burning down.
She writes :
"It's strange to witness the death of a town. In some ways there is a melancholy romance. It's like the tragic set of a film, but the sad thing is that the star is Margate. Margate has become Britain's tragic Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, almost nothing can save her.
I want someone who is a giant to come along and treat Margate like their very own special model village. I want them to return Margate to its man-made majestic beauty. I want them to lovingly recreate the scenic railway and the big wheel. Make Dreamlands a place possible for teenage lovers to have dreams, the Teddy Boys to whirl on the wurlitzer and Mods to dodge with their girlfriends on the dodgems, the Victorian promenade to be graced with beautiful, wrought-iron railings.
I want the giant to flick the switch on the battery box and Margate's summer lights to twinkle and dance between every guesthouse and hotel. I want all the boarded-up hotels and guest houses to be opened up and come alive again. Tiny figures to be placed at the Lido swimming pool. The giant bends down and nimbly, with thumb and forefinger, replaces the 30ft diving board.
I am not complaining, I am just making a sad observation. An observation I'm sure many, especially those who live in Margate, have made. This tiny knuckle of England has truly been forgotten, left somewhere in the early Eighties to just die and decay. What makes me very sad is that all that is lost of the better days, of the better times, of Margate are the things that have made Britain great. An inheritance lost that belongs to no other place in the world. "
A very poetic view of a deeply ugly problem.
Maybe the council can look for the giant, Tracey talks about, in the form of investment.
Maybe a giant lump-sum diverted from ridiculous plans to attract 'arty folks' to the Turner Centre.
Let's face it, these people are the ones that see beauty in a pile of rubbish.
............ Aha, I see now. Margate, perfect location.........It's a work of art.
Read Tracey Emin's article here
Antipodean legend, Rolf Harris was on TV last week in a series called Made in England. He visited Margate during the programme and went to The Shell Grotto as well as talking to some locals.
The locals came out with the usual criticism of Margate. Something we all know is true.
"..five years ago it was wonderful along here(the seafront).."
Rolf said ".. I walked along here earlier and everything is closed...."
"....it's like a Shanty Town" the other local said.
Shanty towns (also called squatter camps, favelas, slums or informal
settlements) are often illegal or unauthorized settlements of impoverished people
who live in improvised dwellings made from scrap plywood, corrugated metal,
sheets of plastic and
other found materials.
It's not quite that bad.... but you see his point. With most of the shops boarded up or empty then it certainly is heading that way.
Someone must act to get the council to do something.
They can't possibly be unaware of the problem.
Their only recent contribution is to force the rebuilding of the un-used ancient rollercoaster which failed to burn completely down.
It would appear that Margate's Dreamland was open without us knowing it. I say this with tongue-in-cheek beacause every news story I saw about the Great Fire of Dreamland had people suggesting that Margate would not be a good holiday destination anymore because of the fire. They were saying that Margate would miss the old rollercoaster. All the news stories including Meridian TV were omitting the fact that Dreamland has been closed for 3 years, along with a fair few shops in the Town.
Photo: Dipper Images
When will the Christmas decorations come down in The Centre?
They are not from this year, just gone (2007)...... No........ This is Margate. They have been up since Christmas 2006. In fact, as we know, Christmas begins in early November these days. So as of today, the Christmas decorations have been up in The Centre for 17 months!
Anyone with a ladder and some authority..... please help.
Picture: Dipper Images
What is going on? Does anyone think that Margate is going to rise from the ashes like a Phoenix. Is that why someone seems to be burning the place down bit by bit?
Fire rips through rollercoaster
The Scenic Railway was the centrepiece of Dreamland
Up to 80 firefighters have been battling a blaze which severely damaged a listed rollercoaster at the former Dreamland amusement site in Kent.
Police said they were treating the fire, which broke out on Monday afternoon at the Scenic Railway at Margate, as suspicious.
Kent Fire and Rescue Service had 12 appliances at the scene and a pall of black smoke hung over the town. 
Fire investigation officers will enter the site when it is declared safe.
BBC Radio Kent reporter David Linington said the wooden rollercoaster had collapsed.
"It is devastating," said Thanet District Council leader Sandy Ezekiel.
"It is tragic - I used to go on it when I was a kid.
"To see it like this is heartbreaking."
The Grade II listed rollercoaster is believed to be one of the oldest of its kind left in the world.
"It looks like a third of the scenic railway has been completely lost and all the carriages appear to have gone, if they were in the building next door which went up," said Mr Ezekiel.
"When I arrived, the flames were 40-50ft high from the top of the ride.
"The fire brigade did a tremendous job in bringing it under control very quickly. The fire is now out and they are dampening down."
The future of the Dreamland site, which opened in 1920, is uncertain but campaigners and planners want it to become a heritage amusement park as part of a redevelopment scheme for Margate seafront.
Source BBC.co.uk / Picture: savedreamland.co.uk
In other News..... The windows of the old Carphone Warehouse in Margate which has been empty for 2 years were cleaned today. Is this the start of something happening there?
Picture: Dipper Images
Fire in seaside amusement arcade
Yates Pub has Closed!
Another one bites the dust. Will this be another in a long line of buildings that remain empty? We can only assume that the Yate's chain were experiancing financial trouble in this pub.
It was difficult to get served during lunch times, true. But it would seem that the night time sales were not enough to keep it open.
Let's hope someone can get into this major building in Margate and help keep the town going.
What can we do? We can use this Blog to raise awareness of Margate's demise. We can e-mail authorities and request action. We can monitor any progress here and keep tabs on anything positive that happens in the Town.
Something must happen to stop the Town slipping any further into the wasteland it could become.
