Piers

The first snow of the winter has not arrived yet but we have had our first hail showers so lets remember the summers by the sea. This miniature sheet was part of this year's Seaside Architecture issue, its decorative image shows the longest pleasure pier in the world, Southend.  It is 2.158 kilometre (1.341 miles) long and Santa is there at the moment bringing along his winter wonderland.  Like all piers it has had it share of disasters, the most recent being a fire in 2005 but everything is tickety-boo at the moment.

The stamps show:-
Top left - Llandudno Pier, the longest in Wales and is considered the finest surviving Victorian Pier in the country because it has been relatively disaster free.  When English Heritage gave it its listed status they described its style as 'Indian Gothic'.
Top right - Dunoon Pier in Scotland.  Paddle steamers used to ply between here and Glasgow.  Amazingly a paddle steamer is still taking passengers down the Clyde, and this is the Waverley (launched in 1945).  In 1977 she made her first trip away from there to celebrate the centenary of Llandudno Pier, sailing down to Fleetwood, Liverpool and then  Llandudno. 
Bottom left - Brighton Pier which is in actuality called Palace Pier because there used to be more than one at Brighton but this is the survivor and which, as can be see,  has a wonderful helter-skelter on it.
Bottom Right - Worthing Pier.  This has had the usual disasters of fire and storm damage but it must be the only one which was deliberately damaged when they blew a hole in it in World War 2 to prevent it being used in the event of an invasion. The stamp shows the 1935 amusement pavilion.

An entry to Viridian Postcards's Sunday Stamps theme of anything you like here