It was another red-letter day for Queen’s Pier as the first sponsors’ plaques were fixed on the newly restored first bay.

The first plaque on the Ramsey landmark is dedicated to the memory of Conall Hughes.

Conall’s friends donated £3,000 to the Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust after taking on the Three Peaks Challenge under the name of the ’Peaky Finders’.

As well as the Peaky’s plaque, the Trust’s volunteers were delighted to welcome Conall’s family - his wife Claire, children Ciernan and Cashlin, and his brother Ciaran - who helped install their plaques dedicated to Conall and his father Francie Hughes.

Conall lost his battle against cancer in 2017 at the age of 41. He was a very well-known man who was at the heart of most sports in Ramsey.

Francie was also well known in the island and was a member of the popular group ’The Mannin Folk’.

The Peaky Finders, former students of Ramsey Grammar School Christian Penswick, George Rawlinson, Jamie Callister, Shaun Kelly, Michael Valerga and Jordan Kelly took on Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike in England and Snowdon in 2018.

They completed the 24-hour challenge with more than three hours left on the clock.

Progress on the restoration of Queen’s Pier is continuing apace this year, despite work having to be temporarily put on hold on March 26 because of Covid-19.

Before lockdown, the replacement steel was lifted into place on bay two and since work was allowed to resume on April 24, all the decking has been laid on bay one and the handrails refitted.

The corroded ironwork in bay three was swapped for new steel at the beginning of August.

Volunteers in the fundraising team, who have raised £55,000 over the last three years through coffee mornings and other social events, were the first to walk on the restored bay one on June 25.

Project manager Stuart McKenzie said: ’With the fitting of the first plaques on bay 1 we have entered the final phase of work on bay 1 and the bulk of the plaques will be in place in the next few weeks.

’In the meantime work is concentrating on the joinery for bays 2 and 3.’

Stuart put out a plea for anybody with joinery or carpentry skills to come and give a few hours’ assistance to make best use of the weather window before storms set in late autumn.

Anybody who can help either after work or at the weekend should call 477062 or email [email protected].