Kind of you to ask about the story . Its quite a long one so I may have to come back over the coming days and add pieces.
It all started back in late 1983 or early 1984 when Cunard announced it was going to undertake a $150 million refit of the QE2 in Bremhaven in 1985. As producers of medallions for royal and state occasions we saw an opportunity in striking a commemorative medal for the re- launch of the ship .
Subsequently we were invited by Cunard in New York to make a presentation to them so Malcolm Ableson went to New York to pitch for the business . We won the contract to produce some 20000 medal packs for the re launch which were given away and also sold on board.
Whilst Malcolm was in discussions with Mr Ron Santangelo VP Cunard ,from memory, Malcolm was offered the entire contents of the ship prior to it going to Germany for the refit . Everything from the carpets, curtains, furniture , crockery ,you name it it was on offer . Cunard did not want to land any of these goods in Germany as they would have to pay duty on them so most of the items we were told were going to be dumped overboard . During this conversation it was mentioned that there was an original pair of propellers that were fitted to the QE2 lying at the King George V dock in Southampton . When the ship was built 2 pairs of props were made just in case of an accident as it would take nearly 9 months to make a new one and the ship could not be out of service for so long
Being in the precious metals business the props were immediately of interest to Malcolm . He went back to his hotel and call me at 5.30 am and said get in the car and go to Southampton and have a look at the props from the QE2 . I of course said what on earth are we going to do with 2 propellers from the QE2 .
I went to southampton late that day and stayed overnight and on a very cold winters day turned up at the entrance to the dock are and asked the guard if he knew when these propellers were. He said " carry on for half a mile , there on the right hand side and there's no way you can miss them " odd I thought.
There they were two enormous bronze propellers . As it happens I have the part of the boss that was stamped with all the details so here they are.
19ft diameter, pitch 22.21ft at 5' 11 1/4 ", cast in Superston 70 weight 32ton 3cwt 3quaters 0lbs. Cast by Stone Manganese Marine. They are stamped BOT 13 -6-67.
They were enormous to say the least and back in 1967 may have been amongst the worlds largest props.
It was the early days of those brick sized mobile phones , so I called malcolm at 3 am his time and said what the hell would we do with these as there was enough metal for a whole counties coinage.
We made our interest know to Cunard that if they decided to sell them then we would like purchase them.
Some 6-7 months went by and we received a Telex from Cunard NY stating that they were putting them up for sale and bids were due by a certain date . As the most famous passenger liner in the world we knew we had to have them at any price.
Some weeks later we were informed that we have acquired them but at that stage didnt really have a clue what we would do with them but written in the contract it was stated that any souvenirs had to have the status and cuedos of the QE2.
Being based in the centre of Leeds we didn't have space to move the props and Cunard we happy for us to leave them there as there was no way anyone would even try and move them not unless they had a 100 ton crane and specialist moving equipment.
We spent months trying to figure out what to do with the metal after doing physical analysis of the material we discovered it was harder than stainless steel so we couldn't strike commemorative medals from it it had to be smelted and cast .
We then spent a great deal of time in trying test castings with similar material still not knowing if we had just purchase 64tons of a metal that was ideal for propellers and possibly nothing else . The deal was looking very good for Cunard but not for us.
At the same time as this was going on I had taken up golf again after some 15 years absence and hacking my way round the course .
It was on a friday morning that I came into the office met with Malcolm and said " Golf Clubs" we'll make Limited Edition sets of Golf Clubs made from the propeller metal of the QE2 . Thats how it all started.
We couldn't set up a manufacturing facility for possibly a one off project so we decided joint venture was the way to go. We rushed out to WH Smiths and bought every golf magazine on the shelf . Sat round the boardroom table and looked at all the manufacturers advertising and then we came across " Swilken of St Andrews" What could better Golf Clubs made in St Andrews the home of Golf from the propeller metal of the QE2.
The next step was to make contact with Swilken , which we did the same day . I spoke with their MD Ian Bunch and asked to make an appointment to see him but couldn't tell him what it was about except to say that I wasn't going to sell him Telex or Toilet rolls . He was reluctant as anyone would be but said we would be coming from Leeds so agreed to see us.
Two days later we turned up at the Swilken factory and met with Ian Bunch and Iain Lumsden company accountant. After the niceties I opened the conversation with " We have an original pair of propellers from the QE2 and we want to make a Limited Edition sets of Golf Clubs." Their first reaction was priceless . They thought we the the Morcambe and Wise of Leeds .
After weeks of discussions we finally put the JV company together Sandhill Swilken Corporation Uk Ltd . We announced to the press of the launch of the project in July of 1987. So far it had taken some 2 1/2 years and still the props lay in Southampton .
The intention was to have product ready by spring 1988. In July of 87 we looked into having the props broken up ready for smelting and instructed explosives experts to look into removing the 6 blades from the boss so it would be easier to move and place into a furnace. After their inspection of the props they reported back saying that the explosives would remove the blades but also bring down a nearby footbridge over the railway line and probably destroy part of the rail network by the side of the docks. Oh dear we thought !!! It was then mentioned use a thermic lance . You only see Thermic lances in James bond fils and you cant find Thermic Lane operatives in yellow pages.
We timed the press release to coincide with the cutting up of one of the props which we undertook on the 10th December 1987 .With the press launch came the Uk interest from the local Press in Southampton , Leeds and St Andrews , quickly followed by the regional and national TV networks and then press coverage in New Zealand , Australia, USA and Japan. The magical combination of Golf and the QE2 came together like a perfect marriage and the Q2 Golf Clubs were born.
Topic: QE2 "Q2" Golf Clubs made from her propellors (Read 47176 times)
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Feb 04, 2010, 12:01 AM