Fred Gray will be stepping down as WPT’s Honorary Historian and Archivist at the end of this year. We are delighted that WPT trustee Annebella has agreed to take over the role. She made the following statement after the collapse on 23rd October:
“The West Pier, even as a ruin, is a major part of Brighton’s identity. It is sometimes said to be Brighton’s most photographed monument. Visitors and residents cherish it as a site to view sunsets and starling murmurations. For some older people, it holds memories of seaside holidays past. Some younger people have only known it as a ruin. The damage caused to the pier by Storm Austen is a new chapter in the long life and afterlife of the West Pier. It has brought forward a new flood of memories and emotions, including much sadness about its decline, but also enormous fondness about its status as a Brighton centrepiece. For me, as a cultural historian, it reminds me that the pier lives on in the present day, even in pieces, and that its meanings continue to change over time.”
