About the Authors

Mike Short

Mike Short is a local resident and has lived opposite the Shipley Glen Pleasure Grounds with his family for almost seventeen years.  He took his first ride on the ‘Aerial Glide’ at the age of four in 1954.  Mike Short and his wife, Di Millen, together with neighbours Paul Roberts and Cathy Richardson Roberts of Ventura House, Prod Lane, led the campaign of public opposition and organised the public petition against an outline planning application to demolish the Shipley Glen Pleasure Grounds and build houses on the site. >>To contact Mike Short, click here.

Nick Laister

Nick Laister BA(Hons) DipTP MRTPI MIPI MIHT is a planning consultant, publisher and a leading authority on the UK theme park industry. He is a Chartered Town Planner and Technical Director with the RPS Group Plc and specialises in planning for tourism and leisure. He is involved in the promotion of major development projects around the UK and Ireland, and has appeared as expert witness at several public inquiries and hearings. He has written articles for a number of newspapers and journals and has been invited to speak at conferences on the subject of planning for tourism and leisure. He is also regularly interviewed on television and radio on the same subject. He is co-owner of Skelter Publishing LLP and editor of the website www.joylandbooks.com, which specialises in books on amusement park history. A report issued by Nick Laister to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and English Heritage in 2001 resulted in the listing of the Scenic Railway roller coaster at Dreamland, Margate, Kent, the UK’s oldest roller coaster. This was the first time an amusement park ride had been listed. He is currently leading a major campaign to Save Dreamland.  >>To contact Nick Laister, click here.

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