Volunteers hail 'brilliant' £80k pier donation

An £80,000 donation towards the restoration of a Victorian pier in the north of the Isle of Man will cover the cost of reinstating an entire 40ft (12m) bay of the structure, volunteers behind the project have said.

The Queen's Pier Restoration Trust was given the money by trustees of the Alan Chinery Trust, named in memory of a Ramsey resident and railway enthusiast.

The pier was first opened in 1886 and has a total of 60 bays, making it the sixth longest in Britain at 0.4 miles (0.6km).

Restoration trust member Graham Curphey said the donation was "absolutely brilliant" and the boost meant they could start "full steam" planning for more works on the structure.

The pier was closed in the 1990s for safety reasons, but restoration work has been underway since the trust was first established in 2016.

A standard bay on the pier is 40ft (12m) long by 21ft (6.4m) wide, but there are also five wider stabilisation bays that are 20ft (6m) long by 40ft (12m) wide.

Volunteers have most recently been working on repairs to bays nine and 10, with the latest large donation set to be used to fund the entirety of bay 11.

Mr Curphey said the trust behind the donation said it had been made to commemorate Alan Chinery, who was born in London but retired on the Isle of Man, settling in Ramsey.

Prior to that relocation, Mr Chinery had spent time working working in the the tobacco industry in the far east following service in the army during World War Two.

Mr Curphey said after moving to the island, he "grew very fond" of Ramsey and had occasionally driven the small railway that ran on the pier.

The Alan Chinery Trust said it was "right" to commemorate its founder in the town where he lived, especially with his connection to the railway.

The sizeable donation had allowed the trust to order materials to work on bay 11 later in the year, Mr Curphey said.

The financial security was "a luxury that we would love to have more often", he said, adding that in the past there had been delays while funding was found to continue the project.

The original iron structure was built as a deep water berth for all states of tide, as the northern town sought to rival the island's main port in Douglas.

As the restoration continued, Mr Curphey said the group hoped there would be more opportunities for attractions on the pier, including for fishing, and for the 1937 train based at the entrance to run the entire length of the historic structure.

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