A very sad event happened in my hometown a few weeks ago: Hastings pier was largely destroyed in a huge fire; possibly started by some miscreants. This is the first time I’ve been back to Hastings since the fire and although it had been closed for several years pending repair, the pier is in a very sorry state indeed:

The “you can save me” banner was put there by the people raising money to renovate the pier before the fire: they’re going to need a lot more money now :-(. Some more photos I took of the pier and Hastings seafront are below.