Piers and seafront scenes

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This was on a short break holiday at Shanklin. We had chosen that resort as it had a rail link. These good people had travelled on the train on which we started our journey home. Who knows how many are holiday makers.

With the grandchildren back at school and nursery, we could get away for a short break on the Isle of Wight. Shanklin was chosen as much for its rail link as its scenery and amenities. The funny thing was that, although she was a Londoner, my wife hated going on the tube! That's not graffiti! That's a dinosaur themed livery, on a former London Underground (or tube) train.

This is one of a trio of photos, that, apart from levelling the horizon, have had no Photoshopping, contrary to my usual practice.

This is one of a trio of photos, that, apart from levelling the horizon, have had no Photoshopping, contrary to my usual practice. 3.10.2013 This pier is now being restored and it is hoped to have it ready for the 2015 summer season.

This is one of a trio of photos, that, apart from levelling the horizon, have had no Photoshopping, contrary to my usual practice. It was a cold January afternoon. I had come to collect our grandson for a weekend visit to us and his dad. The sorry sight of the burnt out pier, the cold dusk light and the incessant rolling in of the waves comes across to me from this shot. It is not a dramatic sunset. The waves are not spectacular. But I can feel the cold wind, as the weak sunshine slips away.

The original prints of these three photographs, collected by H.T.Sutters early in the 20th Century, were donated to the Glamorgan Archives. Piers in the Bristol Channel area had frequent visits from steamers that plied, for business and pleasure, between the English and Welsh sides. Clevedon and Birnbeck Piers on the English side and Barry and Penarth on the Welsh, were among the busiest. Services lasted into the 1960s at least.