As a child I was often taken by my Dad, for trips aboard paddle steamers (of the ‘White Funnel Fleet’ of P&A Campbell), from this pier (known locally as the’ Old Pier’, to differentiate it from the newer ‘Grand Pier’ in the bay). The 40 foot rise and fall of the tide sometimes made berthing interesting. We puffed across to piers and docks in Cardiff, Penarth and Barry in South Wales, along the Somerset coast for visits to Clevedon Pier, sometimes making trips down the Bristol Channel coast to Devon, such as into Ilfacombe Harbour or meeting offshore, for passenger transfers by tender, at Lynton. The magic of steam power, together with the gleaming lifeboat held ready for launching down the ramp, at the lifeboat station on this unique Victorian age pier - it is all now derelict, defunct and damaged. A shadow of my past.
