Yes, there are costs incurred keeping all these attractions viable, but without our heritage we become just another town on an island that is expensive to visit without the benefit of good weather.

There are so many places cheaper to travel to than the island, we need a reason to attract people.

Our Victorian heritage was second to none, especially the railways and the Queen’s Pier, both of which have been allowed to fall into disrepair or truncated. It has been nothing short of vandalism.

When you think of the infrastructure that has gone, the railway along Marine Drive, up Douglas Head, the lines between Douglas, Peel and Ramsey, the beautiful railway stations and halts along the way, boats docking and taking foot passengers at Ramsey (I was on the last ship to call), it’s really so sad.

I’m not stuck in the past, I actually must be one of the few who like the new promenade (including the new lights) although the management and costs weren’t properly managed and should not have cost the tax payer the fortune it did.

We’re spending £80m on a sea terminal building in another country but won’t spend £6m on the Queen’s Pier at home.

Time we realised that quality of life is so precious and the pier and railways will contribute in ways that are not measurable by cost.

They are part of our Manxness and worth saving before we lose our identity entirely.

I understand that not everyone will agree and that in the main only people opposed to my letter will react, but I urge you, Manx or not, to encourage our politicians to retain the outstanding history we have.

Shirley O’Hea

Hillberry Lakes

Douglas

This letter was first published in the Manx Independent of August 10.

Share your views with our readers.

Write to: Opinions, Isle of Man Examiner and Manx Independent, 18 Finch Road, Douglas, IM1 2PT or email:

Don’t forget to include your name, FULL home address and a daytime phone number even if you want to be anonymous in print.