Hi As a boy during the 1940/50s, growing up in Ryde, I spent a lot of time on Ryde Pier. I remember there being a large hut on the left hand side of the pier head (as you walked seaward) painted white and bearing a sign 'HM Customs & Excise' either to the side of or above the door. I am now, 50 years or so later, in the process of constructing a web site - www.hm-waterguard.org.uk - about the uniformed service of HM Customs & Excise and would like to hear from anyone who has information about the Customs & Excise hut on Ryde Pier - when it was constructed, when it was taken out of use, what it was used for, how it was staffed etc, and it's relationship to the Customs Offices in Cowes, Portsmouth Harbour and Southampton Dock. I would also like to hear from anybody who has ancestors who were employed prior to 1972, as Customs Officers in Ryde, in other parts of the Island or even on the mainland! Depending on the dates of the Officers employment he could have been described as either a Coastguard, a Boatman, a Preventive Officer (or Assistant Preventive Officer), a Surveyor, a Tide Waiter, a Waterguard Officer or a Customs Officer. Good Huntin' ;-) Trevor Tomasin Primarily researching - BANTON - BULL - COLLIS - LEAVERS - HOPKINS - MOODY - PURCHASE - TOMASIN - VINCENT - but always with an interest in derivatives, spouses and their siblings - and all part of 'The TOMASIN Family History Project' - www.tomasin.org.uk/genealogy Were your ancestors, or are your living relatives even, Customs Officers? Then visit the HM Waterguard web site - www.hm-waterguard.org.uk This e-mail, and any attachments to it, have been automatically checked for 'nasties' by Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm 6.