Readers' happy memories diving off Weymouth Pleasure Pier

This joyous picture is of Mick Davis diving into the water off Weymouth Pleasure Pier. It was taken by his father.

He remembers happy summer days of 'spending a whole school summer break, with mates, on the Pleasure Pier, diving, and seeing how many of us could fit on the water slide at one go'.

Mick Davis sent us this wonderful action shot of him having fun as a child diving off Weymouth's Pleasure Pier

Mick says he misses those carefree days in the 1970s.

"Brilliant time, this is the early 70s. It soon silted up, and the swimming area declared unsafe, when they filled in round the back of the Pavilion," he said.

Readers remember fun times hanging out at the Pleasure Pier with much affection.

Paul Harvey writes: "We were all down there in the summer of 75 and 76, we had a great time."

While Terry Weir remembers that the water slide was called 'the shoot'.

The memories of those days are clear in the mind of Martin Honnor, who writes: "I remember summers spent on the pier, laying towels on the hot tarmac to warm up and the honky tonk woman drifting up from the amusement arcade amongst the pinging pin ball machines."

One reader remembers there being diving boards at the pleasure pier, which had apparently been taken down by the 1970s with only the slide/shoot remaining.

Mick says: "There were definitely no boards then, just the slide/shoot. The 'Weymouth Belle' boat that took tourists, to Lulworth I think, used to tie up there sometimes, and we used to entertain the queuing trippers (or baffle them)."

But the 'shoot' is fondly remembered by Jo Luxton. She writes: "The shoot! I remember also the crazy golf that was at the back of the Pavilion and it seemed every time I was around there Peter Frampton’s only hit Show Me the Way was on a permanent loop blaring out! - the weather was fab- I'm guessing that was 1975/76!"

Swimming from Weymouth Pleasure Pier Picture courtesy of Sue Hogben

It seems as though the pleasure pier divers were quite a treat to watch for visitors coming to Weymouth, with some remembering 'diving for pennies for the grockles'.

Billy Short writes: "We used to dive for money thrown by holidaymakers in the late 60s early 70s. We also sold spider crabs to them. Our uncle owned 'Miss Dorset' and 'Miss Weymouth', the two speedboats that ran from there."

The boats are remembered by Lilian Cameron, who writes: "Oh golly! I remember the boats, and the very dishy men who ran the speedboats...I was an impressionable teenager late 50s early 60s!"

Weymouth Pleasure Pier and the Nothe Fort pictured from above in 1979

'Suicide' dives were also performed off the diving boards to 'drench the watchers'!

And there was a large amount of fun until basking sharks would come 'swimming around'!

Although harmless, the sharks still caused plenty of alarm, Kim Harper writes.

"They did make a lot of people shoot out of the water, some got to the raft and waited until the fishermen rescued us, but I remember just as the shark was coming around the jetty a lad went down the slide, he should have been an Olympic swimmer, the speed he got out of the water."

Weymouth Pleasure Pier today

Jan Jesson says: "I spent many a day on the pier, the Carter twins from Littlemoor worked in the cafe..so many happy and wonderful memories."

"My mum worked in the cafe too," Ange Moors says. "Remember the glass house half way along. The water polo. Christopher Hayward jumping in screaming."

Kevin Lea remembers the cafe well: "I used to work in the cafe with my brother Bernard Lea. Really good hourly rate I remember, and it was great after a shift to just dive into the water. 1976 was a cracker of a summer, great times."

Another special memory comes from Colin Park, who would walk underneath the pier watching the spider crabs on the sea bed.

Terry says: " I used to dive down and catch them from the wire rubbish bins dumped underneath, bring them up and watch the little kids run!"