A grant has been awarded to the Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust (QPRT) to ensure the continuation of the scheme.

The Manx Lottery Trust has given the project £50,000 from the Dormant Assets Fund, which is distributed by the trust on behalf of the Isle of Man Treasury.

Construction began on the original Victorian pier in 1882 and it officially opened in 1886.

It was built for the Isle of Man Harbour Board for the sum of £40,752 (about £4.3 million in today’s terms) as a deep-water berth for shipping.

It was closed in the early 1990s due to a number of factors, including a massive fall in numbers of people using the pier, repeated acts of vandalism, and increasing maintenance costs.

The QPRT was set up with the sole purpose of restoring the pier so that it can be preserved and used once more.

In 2017, after years of consulting, fundraising, and campaigning, the repair of the pier got underway with Phase One - the restoration of bays one to three - commencing.

After a massive community effort, including the sponsorship of decking planks, Phase One is now complete.

This milestone was commemorated with a celebratory opening ceremony on July 22 when Sir Richard Gozney, then Lieutenant Governor, officially cut the ribbon.

As we reported earlier this week in the Examiner, the demand for sponsored planks for the project going forward was incredibly high.

All of the planks available to be sponsored in this particular release have now sold out (some stanchions were still available however at the time the Independent went to print).

The planks were priced at £75 each, and stanchions are £150.

Each plank sold is a standard length of 2.3 metres and can be situated anywhere in bays 4 to 8 as space becomes available.

With 60 bays in total, the QPRT is restoring the pier bay-by-bay and the grant from Manx Lottery Trust will cover the costs of materials for a bay on Phase Two of the project, including steel, wood beams and railway sleepers.

Graham Curphey, treasurer and trustee at Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust, said: ’We are very pleased to be awarded a grant of £50,000 from Manx Lottery Trust.

’This is a marvellous and very generous award which will fund a bay on phase two of our restoration.

’On behalf of the trust, we offer our sincere thanks to the Manx Lottery Trust.’

Sarah Kelly, chairman of the Manx Lottery Trust, added: ’It’s a pleasure to award this grant to such a worthy community project.

’The restoration of Queen’s Pier will benefit the whole Manx community as well as visitors to our island and we are excited to watch the project progress over the next few years.’

For those wishing to put their own mark on the pier by sponsoring a plank, never fear: QPRT project manager Stuart McKenzie assured Isle of Man Newspapers this week that more planks will be available in the future.