Wednesday 30 April 2014
Tuesday 29 April 2014
The Great Panjandrum has been at it again! Eugenius Birch’s 15th Pier discovered!
“It sticks out half a mile”
The original pilot episode, set in 1948, involved former bank manager and Home Guard Captain George Mainwaring
(Arthur Lowe) deciding to renovate a decrepit seaside pier in the fictional town of Frambourne-on-Sea, only to find when applying for a bank loan that the manager of the local branch is his former chief cashier and Home Guard Sergeant Arthur Wilson (John Le Mesurier).
Captain Mainwaring is trying to raise funds to buy Frambourne Pier :-
Wilson: "Just a minute, did you say that you are going to buy our pier??"
Mainwaring: "That's right!"
"But it's closed, isn't it, I mean it has been since the war?"
"Precisely!"
"And the middle bit is missing, isn't it?" [See They cut the pier at Warmington-on-Sea too!]
"That's right"
"And you want to buy it?"
"Exactly!"
"But why?"
"Wilson, your local pier was built over 90 years ago by Eugenius Birch"
"Who?"
"Eugenius Birch, one of the greatest pier designers ever! It's part of our heritage. And it is lying there: closed; rusting; and rejected"
"Yes I know, it's awfully sad, but..."
"The Council have lost interest in that pier, Wilson, they're planning to have it demolished."
"Oh I see"
"'Oh I see'?? Is that all you can say? That part of your local heritage is about to disappear?"
"It's not my fault is it?"
"How do you make that out? Because you, Wilson, are just like those people on the council. You are prepared to stand aside and let the bulldozers tear down that exciting elegant structure that stands there jutting out to sea as a fine example of the brilliant engineering prowess of our forefathers"
"Now look here, I never said that! I'd like to think the pier could be saved"
"That's the spirit!! I knew I could rely on you. Just give me that loan, Wilson, and between us you and I will put that pier back on its feet! Why, it could be the eighth wonder of the South Coast"
Monday 28 April 2014
Jeremy Birch’s Video Log: The Pier
http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/columnists/jeremy-birch-s-video-log-the-pier-1-5985253
He used to scrap chewing gum from the pier.
Sunday 27 April 2014
Hastings Pier Charity works with Clean Seas Please
The Clean Seas Please team are very happy to welcome the support of Hastings Pier Charity, another important feature of our town for residents and tourists alike.
Simon Opie from the Hastings Pier Charity said: “‘Hastings Pier Charity strongly supports the Clean Seas Please campaign. Piers are designed to connect people with the sea and we want visitors to come to Hastings in large numbers to experience that connection and to engage more generally in leisure pursuits connected with the seaside….”
Thursday 24 April 2014
High jinks at low tide!
And don’t forget - The best low tide this year will be on 13th August at 08:05. (wind and tidal surge permitting) – bother, originally read that wrong, thought it was going to be in he evening.
Tuesday 22 April 2014
Monday 21 April 2014
Sunday 20 April 2014
It’s cheesy chips and a dry white for me! With a good book.
A poll has proven British people really do like to be beside the seaside – after eating fish and chips on a pier topped a list of 50 things Brits want to do before they die.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/50-things-brits-want-die-revealed-great-british-143539420.html#xLUf7go
Saturday 19 April 2014
Friday 18 April 2014
Thursday 17 April 2014
3D, courtesy of our younger visitors, 100 years apart
Call in at The Hub and see what is going in this weekend!
Sunday 13 April 2014
Foyle’s Pier (With thanks, as so often, to Pete, The Grand Panjandrum of the Pier
"A seaside without a Pier is like a pig without ears"
Superintendent Foyle meets the fisherman played by Ian Hogg on the beach. Some wire entanglements can be seen but the beaches were all off limits in May 1940. The threat of invasion saw all Piers sectioned to prevent them being used as landing stages. Hastings Pier carried a oil pipe line to the end of the Pier from a tank up in White Rock to set fire to the sea in the event of Invasion.
Actor Ian Hogg In Foyle’s War Series 1 Episode 2 The White Feather
Friday 11 April 2014
Saturday 5 April 2014
Friday 4 April 2014
A Bit behind the Times!
Hastings Pier share scheme raises £470000
More than £470,000 worth of shares have been sold to aid the restoration of a seaside pier that was ravaged by fire more than three years ago.
Pier share scheme close to target as deadline looms
More than £470,000 in shares in a fire-ravaged seaside pier have been ... Organisers behind the revival of Hastings Pier hope to hit their £500,000 ...
Me too! I was there.
In Situ of Battle, which was on the site on Tuesday morning.
The firm, based in Vale Road, took advantage of the low spring tide to carry out crucial core sample work underneath the pier.
David Spooner, project manager, said: “In Situ was on the beach with their kit do to some core samples, so we can work out how sturdy the ground is where the Heritage Centre is going.
“They force a pipe down into the ground and keep forcing until it hits something hard, which is hopefully a rock.
“It’s so we know we can go 35ft down when we put our foundations in.”
He added: “It’s just a small part, but a very crucial part.
“Without that we would be guessing as to what’s there.”
The firm, based in Vale Road, took advantage of the low spring tide to carry out crucial core sample work underneath the pier.
David Spooner, project manager, said: “In Situ was on the beach with their kit do to some core samples, so we can work out how sturdy the ground is where the Heritage Centre is going.
“They force a pipe down into the ground and keep forcing until it hits something hard, which is hopefully a rock.
“It’s so we know we can go 35ft down when we put our foundations in.”
He added: “It’s just a small part, but a very crucial part.
“Without that we would be guessing as to what’s there.”
Thursday 3 April 2014
It’s climbing, minute by minute….
Keep your eye on the Microgenius bar below on the right and refresh (Function key 5) every now and again (you can see the webcam view change, as well)
£ 501,200
sold so far
HPC Newsletter - April 2014
Community Shares
Our Community Share scheme is proving to be a resounding success. With over 1,600 shareholders to date (the vast majority investors from the Hastings area) the Hastings Pier community share issue has raised over £450k towards our £500k target and is looking for a final push before the offer closes at midnight on Saturday 5th April. Over £13.7m was initially raised from the Heritage Lottery Fund to fund the engineering, steelwork and major renovation work needed to the structure. The community share issue will fund the attractions on the pier required to make it financially viable.
The purpose of the new pier is to create jobs and prosperity for the town; we can revitalise the seafront and offer locals and visitors alike a real reason to visit the pier again and again.
The Hastings economy is already benefiting with around £500,000 having already been spent directly in the immediate area. Whilst of course we have to respect public procurement rules, we expect the local economy to benefit considerably from the project itself, as well as the economic uplift from bringing the pier back to life. We already have more shareholders than any other such scheme in the country except for two football clubs and we may well overtake one of those. This last week is vital to help us reach our target and make the new Hastings Pier as successful as it deserves to be.
Simon Opie - CEO, Hastings Pier Charity
Buy shares now – Be quick!
98 % SOLD
3 DAYS LEFT
£ 487690 SOLD
Construction update
Our construction team have been on full steam ahead these past few weeks. Not only have they been hard at work replacing and repairing much of the iron and steel work of the substructure but, as some walkers passing by may have noticed, our decking has arrived and is being laid. The decking, which is made from Ekki, sustainably sourced from Cameroon, is heavier than water and resistant to salt corrosion, making it a perfect building material for marine constructions such as our pier. David Spooner, our Construction Manager, says"The emphasis is now on forming an access way for the length of the pier so that we are able to get plant and equipment to the end where the ball room is to be demolished, and the visitor centre constructed." As well as this, three new columns have been installed under the parade extension. For more information come to our teatime updates at The Hub on every second Wednesday afternoons or look on our website for more information.
The Hub
Our visitor space, or The Hub, is also running well with a wide range of activities and events on offer. The Hub is an open visitors space used by the charity as an information centre, teaching space and meeting place for our various activity sessions, talks, presentations and open days. Our most recent event has been Chocolate Welding, where families came in to learn about the truss work under the pier with the help of Project Engineer, Peter Wheeler, Education and Volunteer Coordinator, Jo McLaughlan and some of our volunteers. Our next event will be 'Cake Construction' which will take place on 19th April, learn more about the building work with the help of some experiments and cake! Come along and have a chat with a volunteer to learn more about what’s happening at the pier and The Hub which is open to the public Wednesday to Saturday at varying times, check out our website for more information on opening times and events.
Our pier apprentices
Andy Dan
Our two apprentices have been working on the pier since February, learning various skills and techniques that are used in the building and repair of Hastings Pier. The apprentices, who are studying at Sussex Coast College Hastings, are going to be working on the pier for the next two years.
A big thank you to all those local businesses who have been holding one of our collection boxes! The money being collected will be going towards a defibrillator to be positioned on the pier for the use of our construction team and later once the pier has opened.
Wednesday 2 April 2014
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