2016 saw much change around the world, including for poor old QE2 now languishing in Dubai without her lifeboats, but on the forum its been situation normal.
The forum has stayed popular throughout the year, and the photo competitions have led once again to a really stunning calendar being put together in good time to see in 2017. Have you got yours yet? QE2 Captains Ian McNaught and Nick Bates have theirs!
2017 itself will see great excitement for us as we commemorate QE2's 50th anniversary in the best place possible - Clydebank. You'll read more about that below and hear more throughout next year. We also have exciting plans to revamp the website and forum.
The QE2 Story is for you - an entire site dedicated to QE2 and your memories of her - please support us with a donation, it guarantees the future of the site and at the same time keeps it advert free. A really small donation can be a big help, and a number of people "subscribe" by setting up a small recurring donation - thats a big help to us.
To donate just go to the main forum page to find the donate button near the top of the page.
Finally we wish you and your family all the very best for 2017 - hope to see you in Clydebank!
Photo: Rob Lightbody
New Year on QE2
Rob invited stories of New Year onboard QE2 and the responses make interesting reading. If you were on QE2 at New Year please share your story.
Did you know that there is a tradition to use the ship's bell to ring out the old year and ring in the New Year? Or that New Years Eve was a time when the wardroom was open to all the crew?
Stowaway 2K remembered the ship losing power on 1 January 2005. QE2 departed San Juan about 5:30pm, and sailed north towards New York when the incident happened. You can read his recollection in this post of what happened and the passengers reactions.
Photo: John Jochimsen
On this December day!
December 1990: Hamburg Refit. Britannia Grill added.
2 December 1982: Visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother in Southampton.
4 December 1975: Completes her first million miles, between Antigua and Boston
14 December 1988: HM the Queen Mother is hosted by Captain Bennell at a special luncheon on board QE2 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Her Majesty's launching of RMS Queen Elizabeth at Clydebank on September 27, 1938
15 December 2007: Near miss with the Pride of Kent
17 December 1994: Prince Andrew lunches on board to celebrate QE2's return to service after major 'project lifestyle' refit.
23 December 1968: Main trials & shakedown cruise - engine problems off the Canary Islands
27 December 2004: QM2 & QE2 unexpectedly alter courses to sail in tandem for 6 hours in the Caribbean. QE2's final caribbean holiday cruise.
28 December 1989: Maiden call at Tokyo, Japan & spends 6 months there as a charter
30 December 1964: Contract to build Cunard liner signed by chairmen of Cunard and John Brown's
31 December 1975: QE2 collides with uncharted coral reef during arrival in Nassau, Bahamas, necessitating 48 hours of dry docking in Newport News, Norfolk, Virginia. Passengers were transported to New York by specially chartered train.
The QE2 Story event committee has met every three months in Glasgow to discuss and plan the conference. All our meetings are very productive and two hours never seems to be long enough to cover all agenda items. As you can imagine, our main topic for discussion at our last meeting was the sale of tickets for the conference.
Ticket Sales:
The countdown to purchasing your conference ticket has begun, so keep watching the forum topics and the event website for information on how to book.
What you need to know:
Tickets go on sale on 14 January 2017
Tickets will be purchased through an online system that will ensure a trouble free process for the purchaser and the organisers
Payment will be made through Paypal, but you do not need to register for Paypal you can purchase as a guest
E-tickets will be issued that you can print out, or file on your "smart" phone so as to gain access to the conference, on 22 September.
A reminder will be sent prior to tickets going on sale, to all members who have logged into the forum in the past year. Make sure you log into the forum if you want to receive this reminder.
Keep watching the event website and the forum for more news.
Any questions?
Contact Gavin, John or Lynda The QE2 Story Events Team at events@theqe2story.com
Photo: John Little
Conference A2 posters. The A5 flyers are the same design.
Photo: Cunardqueen
QE2 Story 2017 Calendars
Alan Snelson was delighted to announce on the 2017 Calendar topic that premium and standard Calendars are now available for you to order. As they are available to anyone, not just forum members, we hope you will share information of how to order with friends and family.
Alan has added the QE2 50 year logo, as a reminder that 2017 will be 50 years since the launch of the ship and the year when The QE2 Story conference will celebrate the occasion on 22 September in Clydebank, Scotland.
All images used in each calendar are the same, apart from the cover image, which is different due to the differing formats of the layout. Alan has simply swapped images, so that the cover image of one, will be found on the inside pages of the other and vice-versa.
We would not have a Calendar without the input from our members who support the Photo Competition. Thank-you!
Poll for the October Photo Competition
We would like to encourage more people to support the Photo Competition, which generates so many lovely photos of QE2. Even if you do not enter photos, we appreciate you taking time to vote for your three favourite photos
October photo competition winner was Cunarder Man's picture, "A True legend" The runner up was Pete Hill's "Symmetry" Both brilliant QE2 photos. Congratulations to both winner and runner up.
Keep watching the competition results to see the winning photos and to add your comments and congratulations.
Thank-you all for participating and well done everyone!
December Photo Competition: "Night Time on QE2"
Photo: Skilly56
This month's Photo Competition theme "Night Time on QE2" was chosen by Louis-Philippe Capelle the winner of the September competition.
Isabelle has reminded us that there are so many options for photos to fit this theme, like getting our photos taken with the Captain, dining, dancing, listening to music, having a drink with friends, enjoying the chocolate on our pillows, or taking a walk on deck with the wind in our hair... and much more of course!
QE2 Forever has donated a QM2 Poster as the prize for this month's competition. Or we can arrange for a jigsaw version of the winning photo, as donated by June Ingram.
Have a look at the Photo Competition instructions and upload three of your best photos that fit this theme. You can also see information about the prize(s).
Deadline for this month's competition has been extended to 2 January 2017, to give you more time to look for your best 3 photos and upload them to the competition album.
Looking forward to seeing some amazing pictures!
The QE2 Story - the place to share your memories of QE2
Thank-you for your continued support for the QE2 Story Forum. We know how special the ship is to everyone onboard the forum and we appreciate the contributions that are made to keep her memory alive.
