Liverpool Cathedral Commemorative Concert: 3 October 2008

[Lynda Bradford]

Beautiful images of our QE2 ! And the Widor Toccata - an appropriately majestic composition for a Majestic Lady !

Amazing organ music that added to the occasion.

[cunardqueen]

  I thought the paying off pennant being brought in to In Paradisum would be the killer moment and it turned out to be... when I turned round to see the audience reaction there wasn't a dry eye to be seen on the immediate rows behind me... 

Simply a brilliant master stroke of Genius  Looking back it was quite surreal we were all there to say in effect GoodBye to QE2 , most (if not all ) were passengers who were mid-way through the cruise. and already had high emotions  In the Catherdral when the Pennant  was bought down the knave no one had any idea what was coming, other than the very quiet noise from behind us, and when you did look to the isle  , for me anyway , there was the heart stopping moment l thought OMFG  its a coffin , Andew Nelder was the epitome of a look of a Funeral director.  Then l realise its not a coffin there was a brief sigh of relief and then back to the fact that your saying goodbye  For that moment in time your emotions were simply scattered to the four winds  The music was just the perfect ending for what was simply a beautiful Funeral service. 
If its any help Michael your name was discussed in glowing terms on deck that night , but you were a bit of a bastard for putting us through such hellish emotion. You were forgiven very quickly let me add .         

[Michael Gallagher]

Thank you Myles LOL

The overall aim of each concert was to make even a glass eye cry and destroy people in terms of emotion. Each was designed to take people on a reollercoaster - start off all fluffy and nice and then BOOM hit them with despair before slapping them and bringing them back with rousing traditional Last Night of the Proms stuff and have them leaving on a real high.

Works all the time - even to those who put it together, went through the rehearsals and knew what to expect!

[southfielddane]

At Liverpool Cathedral on 3 October 2008 on the QE2`s final British Isles cruise Simon Weston spoke about the QE2 and the Falklands Campaign. At the end of the speech the west doors of the Cathedral were opened and the band of the Welsh Guards entered the Cathedral. Another emotional moment at this event.

[southfielddane]

A very poignant moment in the concert at  Liverpool Cathedral was when the 39 feet long paying off pennant was carried down the centre aisle and passed to John Prescott M.P. who had once been a Cunard employee. The pennant was carefully folded and given to the safekeeping of the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram.

[southfielddane]

At the end of the concert Captain Ian McNaught paid tribute to the QE2 and in particular the part played by Liverpool in the design. To the strains of Auld Lang Syne the Welsh Guards band left the Cathedral to the applause of the invited guests.

[Rob Lightbody]

At the end of the concert Captain Ian McNaught paid tribute to the QE2 and in particular the part played by Liverpool in the design. To the strains of Auld Lang Syne the Welsh Guards band left the Cathedral to the applause of the invited guests.

Wow

[cunardqueen]

Wow 

Imagine if they had marched out with God Save The Queen at the very end

[cunardqueen]

Out of interest do we know how many were in the Cathedral that day ?

[Michael Gallagher]

for the 2008 one we produced 2,262 tickets which was more than the 2,000 we wanted to accommodate as that would have been more comfortable for the Cathedral. But we could have gone to 2,262. We knew everyone from the ship would not go (and know for a fact that many did not bother in 2007 and 2008) but we did not keep a tally of those who actually turned up. Everyone was assigned to a block and those blocks were filled from the front to the back and we had time built in to move people forward if a certain block didn't fill so only the very back rows would remain empty.

In 2007 we produced 2,240 tickets.

In 2011 we produced 2,117 tickets.

In 2015 we produced 2,000 tickets for each of the two concerts that day.

Thanks to (interfering) management the actual ticketing process for all four concerts was different each time so it was difficult to have a system of keeping track of attendees.

[Michael Gallagher]

That final piece is called Close of Day and meshes Auld Lang Syne and the Last Post together. Brilliant.

[Michael Gallagher]

Watching that has just brought it all back. Will have to get my DVDs out tonight and watch those concerts again!

And to think the Lord Mayor than left the pennant behind under his seat when he left. We found it when clearing up. Today it resides at the Maritime Museum in the Albert Dock.

[Thomas Hypher]

I think Simon Weston was onboard QE2 on our first trip in August 2003, 11th to 17th August Westbound, and I remember we saw him at JFK when we were all about to fly back home. As a 6 year old I had no idea of his suffering, and as young children usually do I stared at him out of curiosity which I regret now. He is a very brave person and his recovery given the circumstances is remarkable.

[June Ingram]

The use of music and pageantry to create the desired effect was certainly achieved !