After I retired from a career in the IT industry, punctuated by spells of teaching and lecturing, I began to develop my interest in local history, triggered off by writing the history of my local church to celebrate its 100th birthday. I soon found my way to the most historic site in town - Southend Pier - and to the unique Museum that celebrates the Pier's nearly 200 years of history. I have written a short history of the Pier and an Education Pack aimed at schools, and have developed a number of Powerpoint presentations, drawing on the Museum's extensive photographic archive, which cover the history of the Pier, its railway, the development of Southend more generally, and some of the history of the railways of South Essex. You might also be interested in the 'Tale of a Sandbank', a story of lust and power from Southend in the years before the Pier.