On 20 September, 1967 I remember the shipyards and ships on the Clyde blowing their horns and sounding their whistles at the point when QE2 was launched.
At seventeen years of age I was amazed that a ship was given such a reception and when I went home I said this to my Dad, who said she is not any ship, she is a Queen, an important ship. As my Dad was a Managing Foreman in John Brown's he asked if I would like to go into the shipyard to see the ship in the fitting out basin. I think it was the following week-end that I stepped onboard QE2 when she was just a shell of a ship but it was at that point in time that I knew she was something special and since then she has lived in my heart.
I have attached a photo of my Dad, in a key position as the Queen walked past. He is front row, third from the left with grey hair and you can see the line left from the bowler hat. He was a very handsome man, even when he was in his eighties and as I have mentioned in another topic
he was in with the bricks having worked in John Brown's as an apprentice in 1926 right through to 1970 when he was a manager.
I am told as Plant Managing Foreman foreman he would have been the man who would press the button to release the ship. I was told this by a man who had been an apprentice in my Dad's Department, but like so many story I cannot verify it as my Dad was dead by the time I learned about this.
Today I remember QE2 and the start of her life,but I also remember my Dad who contributed to the build of many great ships throughout his working life at John Brown's Clydebank.
