Memories of Mary

SHE is the world's largest passenger liner, weighing in at 150,000-tonnes and costing a staggering £550m. Cunard boasts that the vessel is "the largest, longest, tallest, greatest, widest, and grandest ocean liner in the world".

In Southampton tomorrow, Queen Mary 2, right, will be officially named by the Queen before setting sail from her home port on her maiden cruise to Fort Lauderdale in Florida four days later.

For Southampton, QM2 represents the jewel in the city's crown. For the people of Southampton, many of them closely tied to the history and romance of the city's shipping heritage, QM2's arrival has rekindled memories of an age of the first Queen Mary - launched in 1936, the year that saw the end of the reign of George V and his consort, Queen Mary.

The original now serves as a hotel, restaurant and wedding venue in California.

We asked Daily Echo readers for their memories, and over the next two days we will be recalling the heyday of transatlantic liners.

Today, we meet those who worked aboard the first Queen Mary.

THE STEWARD:

FORMER Queen Mary steward Douglas Ford has fond memories of the great liner.

Mr Ford, now 88, served on board Cunard's flagship vessel from 1949 to 1951.

He looked after the famous "Geraldo's" ship orchestra for his first five transatlantic crossings before transferring to tourist class where he served as a waiter. In total, he made 31 crossings with the great liner.

He said: "I never met any famous people but I met marvellous people from all walks of life."

Mr Ford, who now lives at Evenlode Road, Millbrook, has held on to a tourist class menu which holds special memories for him.

One of his passengers drew an impromptu sketch of him on the back of the menu.

He said: "It was my wedding anniversary at the time.

"One of the passengers on the table I was looking after found out about it and drew me on the back. It's not a bad likeness really."

Mr Ford also has his last pay slip which he drew in 1951. His monthly wage? A princely £22 a month!

THE CHEF:

SOUTHAMPTON pensioner Frank Mortimer was among the thousands of people watching Queen Mary 2 come into Southampton on Boxing Day.

But as the 88-year-old watched the historic event on his television, it brought back memories of his time working on the original Queen Mary more than 60 years ago.

Mr Mortimer, who lives with his wife Yvonne at The Croft in Calmore, Totton, joined the crew as a chef in March 1936 when she travelled from Clydebank to Southampton to be completed.

The former Eastleigh borough councillor said: "I was one of the original crew that went up to bring her back to Southampton.

"She wasn't completed then. We brought her down and did the trials and then when we got to Southampton all the things were done to finish her off.

"We were down here until the May, until we sailed."

Mr Mortimer came ashore in 1938, but returned to the ship shortly afterwards in the same role until he retired from the sea in 1950.

The great-grandfather-of-four said watching Queen Mary 2 come in had brought back some wonderful memories.

He added: "That was a wonderful time to have been there. I was 21 then and we were doing salads and hors d'oeuvres and preparing the lobsters and crabs and oysters and all sorts of things like that.

"We did the meat for the grill as well, so it was a big part of the kitchen.

"My family was very interested in Queen Mary as well because my uncle was the senior chef on the Cunard line and he was involved with fitting out the kitchens on Queen Mary.

"Looking back over all those years it's quite wonderful to see that a new ship has been named Queen Mary 2."

THE CARPENTER:

ROBERT Lambert, 76, of Simon Way in Thornhill, Southampton, has the distinction of being the last ship's carpenter to serve on board Queen Mary.

He has a special souvenir of the emotional last voyage of the great liner as she headed to Long Beach in America in 1967.

Mr Lambert, now 76, saved one of just three remaining brass plaques which adorned the vessel's lifeboats as she was being turned into a hotel in the United States by her new American owners.

It is proudly displayed on a wooden mounting in his Southampton home.

Mr Lambert, along with a skeleton crew, were the last Cunard employees left on board as Queen Mary took her historic last voyage from Southampton.

Once the ship arrived, two-thirds of the crew were sent home. The remainder, including Mr Lambert, stayed on board.

Mr Lambert, the ship's bosun, engineers and the ship's cook, stayed on board while the ship was decommissioned.

Mr Lambert recalled his last memory of the ship as he returned to England in the winter of 1967. He said: "I could not look back because I would have broken down."

THE DAUGHTER AND STEWARD:

FOR some people in Southampton, family connections with Queen Mary stretch back generations.

Denise Kearly, 67, was born the year that the great liner made her maiden voyage in 1936 and still proudly displays the first class menus from the legendary ship's first journey to the United States at her Midanbury home.

Her dad Ted Girling was the so-called "Captain's Tiger" - the captain's personal steward - during the voyage, and also served as a first class waiter.

But Denise's family connections with the ship do not stop there. Her husband Ray also served on board the ship as a bathroom and bedroom steward.

Denise, of Onibury Close in Midanbury, watched as Queen Mary 2 sailed into Southampton on Boxing Day and was overcome with emotion when she heard the ship's whistle which used to grace the original Queen Mary.

She said: "I cried my eyes out when I heard Queen Mary's whistle blow."