29th Mar: Jetty – Weeks 4 & 5

(Week 4: 16th to 21st March) With all the new uprights in place the river end of the jetty could be demolished.  When the wooden structure was disconnected from the metal piles and ladder at the river end, the latter could simply be pushed over!

When I moved in in 1996 that metal structure was standing alone, the jetty having once reached it having fallen away.  Bob Forsyth, who helped me rebuild the jetty out to the metal structure, said he had originally sunk the piles in place some years previously.  These photos give an idea of what it was like in the mid to late 1990’s.

By the end of week 4 the jetty had been reconstructed out to its original length.  A large skip had arrived midweek and was filled with timber from the old jetty construction (apart from pieces various neighbours wanted for their own projects).  It was taken away the following Monday.

(Week 5: 23rd to 29th March)  Mark had to start another job on the Monday of the 5th week (23rd March) but worked on the jetty on the Tuesday and Wednesday by which time there were only a few finishing jobs to be done. This included lifting the staging outside the shed to the same level as the jetty which he did on the Saturday afternoon.  On Sunday 29th March (the first day of British Summer Time) I was at NCI Stone Point much of the day but came home to find the finishing details had been nicely added.

I must admit it is a great relief to have the new jetty to use rather than worrying about the deteriorating state of the old one.  If we had had a storm surge which covered the old jetty I think many of the boards would have floated away!