Danger of a different kind surfaced in 1980, when the local council proposed the demolition of the pier. There had been no steamships to Southend since the 1960s and the pier was in serious decline. But the Southend community came to the rescue!
Sometimes the threat of losing something close to you makes you realise just how important it is, and that's certainly what happened in Southend.
Thousands of angry letters flooded into the council, and the lobby group Save Southend Pier was formed.
The council reversed their decision in a matter of weeks, and a two-day "Festival of the Pier" was held. Peggy Dowie, one of the leading campaigners, remembers their motto was "Show you care by being there".
Better days
In 1984 the council committed itself to restoring the pier and underwriting its future. In recent years there has been extensive renovation work on the pier, which is still continuing. One of the improvements has been new fire-fighting provisions on the pier, so hopefully that will be less of a problem in future!
Southend Pier has survived a turbulent history and is now rising from the ashes, so to speak. It remains today an important part of our Victorian seaside heritage.
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