PUPILS from Hartsdown Technology College in Margate will be recruited to make animated films about the town's Dreamland fun park.

The young people will be delving into the heritage of the amusement park, interviewing local people about their memories of the park and collecting old photographs and other mementoes.

Their research will be used to help create the animated films.

A scale model of the park will be built to be part of the stop-motion animation process.

Dan Richards from Animate & Create. the company that will be working with the young people, said: "It's going to be a really exciting project bringing Dreamland back to life through animation.

"The project will give the group the chance to learn about the history of the site and how it grew into a major tourist attraction."

The park started life as pleasure gardens in the late 1800s. The wooden roller-coaster first opened in 1921 and attracted half a million visitors in its first three months.

Stuart McLeod, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) which is putting £22,800 into the project, said: "Dreamland is on track to become a unique part of the south coast's seaside heritage and this animation project will help older visitors relive past memories."

The stop-motion films will be aired at the Carlton cinema in Westgate this winter and again at the south east's annual animation festival in September.

The films will become a permanent part of Dreamland's new learning space and exhibition centre which is proposed as part of plans being developed by the Dreamland Trust to reopen the fun park as a heritage amusement park with vintage rides.