Everything’s connected in the end

Belfast and Ramsgate.

There aren't many obvious major connections between the two places.  One is a major city on the Island or Ireland, the other is a medium sized harbour, now devoid of it’s ferry service, on the Kent coast.

However, within a week I've found the same name crop up in both locations, and it was so far out of left field that I spotted it almost instantly on walking into the Maritime museum, despite the name being in small type on a sea of information.

It’s also a tribute to the type of person that they don’t appear to make anymore, and made all the more poignant as there is currently a key anniversary going on.

Ramsgate is currently bustling to the commemorations of the 75 anniversary of Operation Dynamo, the desperate but eventually incredibly successful evacuation of soldiers from the beaches of Dunkerque in 1940.

The story is all the more remarkable for the flotilla of little ships, tug boats and yachts that were the mainstay of the evacuation.

However, one of those motor yachts – the Sundowner – was possibly even more remarkable for the man who was at the helm, and bringing me back to last weekend in Belfast the ship in 1912 he was the second mate on.

To be a hero once in a lifetime – by rescuing thousands of Soldiers from the beaches – would probably be enough for most people, but Charles Herbert Lightoller had previously saved lives as he guided women and children to the lifeboats on the Titanic and after the ship sank keeping a group of 30 alive on an upturned collapsible lifeboat.

A key part of Operation Dynamo and the last Titanic survivor brought on-board the Carpathia – that’s one hell of a life, and one hell of a connection between Ramsgate and Belfast.

Fingers crossed for Margate

Many years ago, as a kid, I was taken to Margate for a birthday treat to visit, what was then, Bembom Brothers Theme Park (for the short period in its life when it wasn't Dreamland).  Vividly sticking in my mind, even to this day, was the Scenic railway roller-coaster.

It wasn't the highest or fastest ride in the Park, it didn't loop the loop or induce stomach churning nausea from spinning, but it probably was the scariest.

Scariest because it looked old, and on some of the drops it was just a piece of scaffolding pole resting about 2 inches above your knees that stopped you from flying out of the car, and those two inches meant at times your knee was on the bar and the seat wasn't in contact any longer.

So it’s with sadness over a number of years to have heard, and seen in the news, the slow decline and then closure of park and even the partial damage to the Scenic Roller-coaster in an arson attack.

At the same time the news stories have painted a similar picture for Thanet, a slow, probably terminal decline.

But, perhaps (to abuse a much misquoted statement of Mark Twain), reports of Margate's death have been exaggerated.

Yes, along the seafront there are boarded up arcades and closed down nightclubs.  But perhaps this is just a symptom of the heart of Margate having temporarily shifted to the stunning Turner contemporary gallery.

I wasn't expecting the picturesque Old Town, packed with café’s and retro shops similar to Brighton’s North Laines, but without the hordes of camera wielding tourists (self-excluded), and I certainly wasn't expecting the Tudor House, with the excellent guided tour thrown in.

This wasn't the Margate that the news likes to portray, this was a Margate that is dusting itself down, picking itself up, and hopefully now on its way to restoring its pride.

Yes, until such time as aviation fuel pushes the price of flying off to the Med up so high that the British seaside suddenly becomes the only coastal option, it's unlikely that Margate’s wide sandy beaches will be as thronged as they must have been in the 50’s and 60’s.  But with a growing base of attractions for tourists, and at least a very decent Premier Inn it’s certainly got a lot going for it.

There's even now a real chance that the Scenic Railway can be scaring more children in the future.

Find out more about the campaign to save and restore Dreamland at www.savedreamland.co.uk