I read an article by Brighton and Hove City Council leader Ken Bodfish (The Argus, July 30) where he said time and tide had done for the West Pier. He went on to say he joins the millions in grieving for her.

Too bloody late. If everyone had put their money where their mouths were and made the annual donation of £10 to the West Pier Trust, we would not have needed to grovel, plead and wait for grants.

I have always loved the West Pier, from a boy gobsmacked by her beauty in the early Thirties to a much-loved old friend who I walked during an organised tour in the late Nineties.

I thought my £10 per year was well worth the hope of restoration. So you can all dry your crocodile tears because nobody is impressed.

I am left in a bit of a quandary - I asked my daughter, when I go, to put my ashes off the West Pier. Now I guess she will have to take rowing lessons.

-Dave Huggins, Hove