Volunteers working on the restoration of Queen’s Pier, Ramsey, have received an early Christmas present.

Timber for the next phase of the Victorian landmark’s revamp was delivered last Friday.

The timber will be used for beams, stringers and kerbs when replacement steelwork for bays nine and 10 arrives next year.

Bay eight has been completed as far as the volunteers can go until work starts on the next bay.

Trustee Dennis Curphey explained: ‘The consignment of timber just received is for bays nine and 10.

‘Bay eight is completed out to the tow-out to bay nine which is a wider bay. The tow-outs are the angled section going from the narrow bay eight to the wider bay nine. Bay 10 will also have the angled sections coming back in from bay nine.’

This weekend sees the pier’s grand Christmas lights switch on. The lights will be switched on at 4.30pm on Saturday (December 14) by Mark Corrin from Farmers Combine.

There will be carols from Ramsey Choral and the Summer Singers as well as glow sticks, face painting, mince pies - and a visit by Santa.

Then on the evenings of Monday, December 23 and Christmas Eve, from 4-6pm on both days, visitors will be able to enjoy a walk on the pier and enjoy the dazzling festoon of festive fairy lights. It will be free entry but donations are welcome as always.

It will be open again on New Year’s Day from 8 to 10am.

Completion of work on bay eight takes the total length of the restored section of the 60-bay pier to 320ft, or just short of 98.5m.

The Queen’s Pier Restoration Trust signed a five-year lease with the government in July 2017 to restore the first three bays.

This was completed within four years, with the initiative quickly becoming the largest community project in the island.

Attention then focused on phase two, with an initial programme to restore bays four to eight. Bays four and five were completed in time for an event to mark the King’s Coronation and bay six was finished in autumn last year.