The days of Kiss Me Quick hats, sweet and sticky rock and cheap and cheerful funfair rides come flooding back for visitors stepping inside Dreamland’s Dreamscapes exhibition.

Canterbury-based artist Barry Kirk’s bright and colourful images are full of movement and fun straight out of the 60s – and that’s because they are straight out of the 60s.

Barry, then a lecturer at Canterbury College of Art, spent time at the Margate amusement park on Saturdays during the early 60s, soaking up the atmosphere and then letting it out into his art.

Those works, which were displayed in London shortly afterwards, had gathered dust in his cellar at his home near Canterbury until very recently, when a relative rescued them for a whole new generation.

Now 84, Barry, who still paints daily in his top floor studio which hasn’t changed for 50 years, said: “I used to go out in my little motor car on a Saturday.

“I’d been to Dreamland as a child with my grandparents. It was shabby because it had been there since the 1930s. It was slightly sleazy.”

Today he remembers the scene vividly, with visitors wearing lapel badges with slogans, which were popular at the time, and Kiss Me Quick hats.

He said: “What I was trying to do was capture that sense of crazy, irresponsible movement of people in Dreamland. There were a lot of people wandering about. Dreamland in those days was fun, it was noisy. It smelt of fish and chips but it was safe. In those days people had fun.”

Barry squeezed in his time at Dreamland around his busy lecturer’s job, and later became vice-principal and principal of the art college he attended himself.

Still painting daily in his studio, his style today has changed considerably from his colourful Sixties images, preferring instead countryside flora and fauna – and despite being in his 80s, he can’t resist continually tweaking them.

He is clearly delighted that his 60s paintings – which he has long since finished tweaking – are getting a new airing at the revamped park, and beams as he looks over them.

“I think it is absolutely marvellous,” he said. “Those pictures have, after 50 years, come of age. They evoke Dreamland as it was 50 years ago. That, I believe, is quite appealing. They are curiously nostalgic.”

DETAILS

Dreamscapes, Barry’s work depicting Dreamland in the 1960s, runs at Dreamland until early September and is free to enter.

The works were initially on show at weekends, but due to the display’s popularity, is now open during the week too.

The art works are a mixture of vibrant paintings, 3D works, wood carvings and sketches and are available as prints and postcards sold in the Dreamland shop at the park.

Bernie Morgan, Dreamland Trust chairman, said: “We are excited to be able to show this fabulous collection. We have had an incredible response from the public.”

The trust promotes the cultural heritage and learning and educational benefits of the historic amusement park which originally dates from the 1800s. The exhibition is the first of a series of projects planned by the charity and is staffed by volunteers. For details go to dreamlandtrust.org.uk