End of the Pier
To the Wivenhoe Pier on Thursday afternoon for the grand civic opening of our latest tourist attraction. Except the grand civic opening took place over Thursday lunchtime, the tourist attraction is more geared towards locals and we aren’t calling it a pier.
Whoops.
To Wivenhoe Jetty then on Thursday, to politely ask the very good Mr Mayor if he would mind awfully re-creating the photo opportunity from an hour earlier. The plan was of course to video the official opening; I thought I was pushing my luck slightly to ask the chained up town civic elders to run through their pomp and pageantry once again.
The jetty really is rather ace. I understand that it has been something of local political hot potato (geddin there!) with regards health and safety, access and official openings etc. But all of that is now in the past, and with perfect early summer timing, Wivenhoe has a pier!
Um, I mean jetty.
Hurrah!
High tide on Thursday was conveniently arranged to coincide with the opening – or was it the other way round? Either way, it really was rather wonderful to stroll out at high tide and look upstream towards the town from a new perspective.
A beautiful barge sailed through the barrier and past my vantage point, shortly after the re-staging of the civic pleasantries. I was able to greet a grand Wivenhoe HELLOOOO!!! to the skipper, shortly before he took a swift starbound to avoid the local nutter.
The new public space is a little barren, but that’s not the point. My hope is that it will be used and adapted by locals to become something of a genuine community meeting point.
Garden space is short in supply down towards the front. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if folk thought nothing of just pulling up their deck chairs on a summer’s evening and shared some social time together. A stiff G & T would of course help, but just don’t overlook the various H & S notices.
I think that just about covers me…
Plus there’s also the corporate plug for Taylor Wimpey, the developer of Cook’s Shipyard which has very kindly donated £1,000 towards the upkeep of the swimming pool at Broomgrove School. It is no coincidence in the charity of choice and the NO SWIMMING signs that decorate the jetty.
I’m personally looking forward to the Kiss Me Quick hats appearing along the pier / jetty. That’s something I certainly won’t be late for.
No Comments on "End of the Pier"