Peter Garside intro message to forum

[Peter Garside]

 Hi, My name is Peter Garside and I had the pleasure of working on the QE2 as an Assistant Cook between April and Nov 1980. The Captain was Bob Arnott and the Executive Chef was John Bainbridge.

I joined the MN in Nov 1976 and completed my initial training at the NSTC in Gravesend in Feb 77. My first trip was the Manchester Courage to Montreal in April 76.

I saw the details of the forum via the book celebrating 50 years of the QE2. 

The crew on board at the time who I got to know included Pat Manning from Oldham and Tony Hornby from Liverpool. There were of course many more, but names have slipped from the old memory bank!

Will look out for any posts from any crew who were on board at the same time. Like all crew, we worked hard and enjoyed our shore leave which for me the highlights being New York and Bermuda.

[cunardqueen]

Welcome to the forum. Of course as cook you hold responsibility for the weight gain for a lot of us who were passengers onboard QE2.
 But it would be interesting to hear from your time onboard just how much was made onboard, was everything made from scratch from the bread rolls to the cakes to the puddings. Compare to todays catering it can be more cost effective to buy in ready-made and simply defrost or cook in the oven. l work in hospitality and never fail to be amused at what goes on behind the scenes and how the finished meal can be created very quickly . But lm sure working on a ship with the crew there already perhaps more use of their time was allowed for such fresh baking / cooking ?

 Anyway hope you can look back on your time on QE2 with happy times. As Assist cook what were your duties and what did you help create for the passengers .
 I did always wonder on Alan Whickers Fast Boat to china, it showed a chef creating a Floating Island with what looked like a bunch of grapes , any idea what this might be ?   

Thanks Myles

[June Ingram]

Welcome, Peter, to The QE2 Story Forum, and we are very pleased you have joined us.

I join Myles in looking forward to hearing more about your time on our QE2.