LOOKING Back had a very enlightening visit from George Pering recently.

George, a former carpenter for Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, was involved in renewing Weymouth's striking fairy lights and brought these pictures in from November 1981 to show the lights being changed.

And he remembers the mammoth task very well.

"We started at Alexandra Gardens down by Weymouth Pavilion and put the lights up right the way to Preston Road.

"I remember it took months."

A hydraulic platform on a tower wagon was raised to the Jubilee Clock so George and his colleagues could get to work.

The lights work was done at the same time as the resurfacing of the Esplanade with brick red asphalt. The work was estimated to cost £20,000.

Another job George, of Wyke Regis, was involved in was giving Weymouth's Victorian shelters a facelift. They were built at a cost of £800 in 1889. New flower beds were put in by the seafront and the Jubilee Clock was repainted.

George says he would love to see the fairy lights return to Weymouth seafront.

"I think it's disgusting that the lights were ever taken down. It was a big waste of money."