Jubilant volunteers are celebrating a major step forward in the restoration of Queen’s Pier, Ramsey.

And they say after a momentous Bank Holiday weekend, when corroded iron girders in bay one were were replaced with new steel, the big push is on to start work on the next two bays.

Project manager Stuart McKenzie said it was a ’momentous’ day as work began.

He said: ’We were a bit worried that the sea end of these girders wouldn’t lift out but in fact they have after giving them suitable lift pressure with the crane.

’Certainly on girder one I was pretty close to saying "no, we are going to have to stop and cut it out" but it just came free then. It’s been there since 1886 so it was well rusted in!

’I’m absolutely thrilled and all these volunteers giving up their time is really appreciated.’

The first two girders were swapped with the new steel on Saturday followed by the three others the following day, the central one being the most difficult as it is the heaviest.

As well at the new 12m long lattice-section trusses, a dozen cross struts have also been put in. Original greenheart beams have also been placed in their approximate positions. The corroded old ironwork, some of it held together by nothing but rust, was cut up outside the pier’s entrance building.

Mr McKenzie said it had gone according to plan and everything the team had wanted to achieve, had been achieved: ’It all went swimmingly. The final girder was the centre one which is much heavier. We didn’t have to cut it out as we thought we would have to.’

The volunteers were assisted by the expert team from Isle of Man Heavy Crane Services who led the lifting operation.

With tangible progress being seen on the Victorian landmark, volunteers hope this will be a spur for people to donate funds toward the next stage of the project.

So far, about £30,000 has been raised for the next batch of steelwork for bays two and three, with a further £8,000 needing to be found before the order can be placed.

Trustee Graham Curphey, a former logistics co-ordinator at the British Army Royal Corps of Transport, said: ’For the last two years, all everybody’s ever seen is the destruction of bay one and now you can see it being restored.

’What we have to do to complete phase one of our project is to do bays two and three. So there’s now the big push to raise the remaining money which is around £8,000 we need.

’If we had the money available, we could order the steel within the next two or three weeks and we could have it here within six to eight weeks.’

The bay has 60 bays in total and eventually all the ironwork along its length will have to be replaced. But the volunteers are hoping the day won’t be too far off when the public will be able to walk along at least a short section of the pier for the first time since its closure in 1990.

You can make a donation by going to https://www.qprt.im/donations