Hunting through my drawers (no, not those) I have discovered this invitation to the last Officers’ Party ever held aboard the RMS Queen Mary. For you young things reading this, that was QM1, before you were born. Lucky things.
Being a sentimental sort of chap, I have squirrelled it away for 53 years and three continents. It has been all the stories that have come back to me from my posting that prompted me to go looking for it now.
Unlike most previous Mary parties, it was not held at sea but in her home port of Southampton, just before she headed off for the last time to be screwed into a permanent dock in Los Angeles. Quite a few of our officers and crew went along, but in name she was no longer a Cunard liner. So, this was definitely our last official party.
Obviously, there were later parties on board as the Queen Mary sailed into Long Beach. Although I did make mention in my book High Tea on the Cunard Queens, I won’t do that here as they were a disgrace to a proud monarch of the seas.
So, we will move on and it is at this point that I am meant to regal you with tales of what we all got up to at this historical event. The truth is, I can’t remember! I must have gone, as I was staying at my parent’s home in Lymington, just 18 miles from the port, and I am known to never miss a party. But I can’t remember a single thing from that night. This is probably because, as I note from the invitation, the party started at 8.00pm and went onto next morning. Say no more