When we used to have Holidays

Former Pupils’ Section of time to board the ship. It felt really good to be setting off on holiday, especially given the ship we were travelling on and the time of year – mid November, leaving behind grey skies and cold weather.

The first view of QM2 is an amazing sight. It is a massive ship (although there are bigger) and would be home to 2,695 passengers and 1,253 crew. The crew are all excellent and if they can help make your holiday more comfortable, enjoyable or memorable they will do so. With 2,695 passengers on board you may think space would be at a premium but this is not the case, with plenty of areas to relax that are not over-crowded.

After booking in, it was a quick and easy process to find our cabin and our luggage arrived shortly afterwards. A quick unpack and away to the buffet for lunch and a wander round the deck with magnificent views over Southampton. The other two Queens (Victoria and Elizabeth) were also in Southampton and all three ships set sail in the early evening. This was a celebration of Cunard’s 100 years of sailing from Southampton and we had the Red Arrows flying in various formations overhead in a tremendous display. What a start to a holiday!

As always when you travel abroad it is more than possible to bump in to other Former Pupils of the School and we had the pleasure of bumping in to Jim Cooper and his wife Vi who were on exactly the same length of cruise as us. 28 days of reminiscing ahead.

The next day we were out in the Atlantic with a seven day voyage in front of us to New York. I thought I had left the grey skies behind in Aberdeen but this first stage of our holiday was grey skies and leaden seas. But who cares about the weather when on a floating palace with so many activities and facilities to enjoy. Food of course, but also expert lectures on many and varied topics including three talks from David Gower who is just as laid back as he used to be on the cricket pitch and TV as a commentator. What else can you do – there are restaurants, bars, rest areas, a well-stocked library, the gym, nightclub, ballroom dancing, shows in the theatre at night and so many other activities to keep one amused. The Captain had a daily spot on the tannoy to advise our progress and there were many mentions of the life existing on the sea floor beneath us followed by references about how close we were to the site where the Titanic sank.

Our evening meal was at a table of eight and we had great fun with the other guests who came from a variety of places and all with hugely interesting backgrounds and stories to match. Our evening meal was a time to catch up on the day’s activities and was very much the highlight of each day.

On arrival at New York we watched other passengers disembarking whose voyage was complete but we had a further three weeks on board this luxurious ship. We had a quick tour around New York, seeing the usual tourist attractions, before returning to the ship and setting sail for our next destination – the Caribbean!

What a difference a day makes. One day after heading south from New York, the cold weather and grey skies were already a thing of the past. The sun was out and the temperature rising. Three days of luxury on board the ship and we arrived at our first island stop, Tortola, with the temperature now in the 80’s and extremely pleasant. We docked at Road Town and our excursion was a sightseeing bus trip around the island with many panoramic views as we drove up and down the volcanic hillsides and along the ridge. One of the views was looking out at Nekker Island, Richard Branson’s holiday island for very wealthy visitors.

The beautiful island of Dominica was our next stop where we docked at Roseau and prepared for our whale and dolphin trip. This was an amazing trip and fully lived up to expectations. The whales were in abundance and it is hard to believe how close these huge mammals came to our small boat. They just float on the surface and then, with a few spouts of water, the tail comes up and down into the sea they disappear. It was quite a privilege to see these mammals in their natural environment.

Bridgetown in Barbados was next and I have to mention the gentleman in Barbados who gave us a lift when the heavens opened and saved us getting completely soaked walking back to the ship. This was the only time we saw rain and boy did it rain – but only for twenty minutes or so and then the sun was back out again and normal service resumed. However, the highlight of our organised tours also occurred in Barbados when, in the evening, we went on a submarine to view the reef and aquatic night life. This was such a peaceful and beautiful experience to be travelling three hundred feet under the sea and to see so much aquatic life and vegetation in their natural environment.

To St Lucia where the usual pictures show the two volcanic pitons and we set off, again by boat, on a dolphin watch. The dolphins had not really appeared at Dominica but they were certainly in abundance in the sea just off Castries. Two very large pods cavorted alongside and around our boat as we moved along the coast.

Basseterre in St Kitts was our next and last stop in the Caribbean. From Basseterre we took a magical trip around the island, the highlight being a visit to Brimstone Hill Fortress – testament to the ever changing ownership of Caribbean islands between the Spanish and British and the need for defence.

At all of these islands our organised trips gave us a great insight to the islands and the local people in a very short period of time. The locals on each island could not have done more to make us feel welcome. Sadly, we were now over half way through our cruise and had to head back to New York. This, of course, was the reverse of our trip south and the further north we travelled the colder it became and the grey skies appeared again. A further twelve hours sight-seeing in a very cold New York followed. On our first visit we did the usual tourist attractions – Central Park and Strawberry Fields (the memorial to John Lennon), the top of the Rockefeller building, Grand Central Station, a very poignant visit to 28

Former Pupils’ Section the 9/11 memorial and many more. This time we set off by ourselves and visited Macy’s – a huge store full of everything you could imagine but, for me, the best bit was the wooden escalator from the first to the second floor – probably over a hundred years old and still working perfectly. It was very cold by now and a quick bite to eat in Grand Central Station and back to QM2 to warm up and prepare for our return voyage to Southampton. There was a change occurring on the ship as we soon found out, with Christmas decorations appearing all over the ship. There were artificial Christmas trees in the most amazing places and the count numbered over forty. The biggest and most spectacular tree was in the central lobby - some thirty feet high and with, surprisingly, three foot high models of Snow White and the seven dwarfs surrounding the base of the tree.

So, seven days left to enjoy the ship and all the passenger groups (Ann, my wife, was in the passenger choir), lectures, entertainment and lastly but not least –the food!

On the way back across the Atlantic, thoughts turned towards home, family, Christmas and the New Year celebrations to come. Who was to guess that in only three months’ time we should be at the start of the covid pandemic and all the various restrictions this entailed. So, no holidays in 2020 and probably none in 2021 but the thought of getting on-board when the ships start sailing again is a reassurance we shall get through the pandemic and there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Bring on 2022 and another round of being wined, dined and so royally looked after.

Iain Hopkin

A Deloitte Rabber’s Tale

Iain Whyte (1975-80) made contact with the Editor through one of his former School class-mates with whom he remained in touch and offered to share his challenging and life-changing experience after resolving that drastic measures were needed to address his weight problem.

I have ridden the Deloitte Ride Across Britain in three successive years, 2016, 2017 and 2019, having first signed up in 2015 weighing 27 stone and with an idea that the training was going to make me fitter and let me live longer. I was doing it partly for myself but most of all for my wife and three young children. I wanted to show our children that you can achieve anything to which you set your mind.

When I arrived at base camp at Land’s End in 2016 the enormity of what I had taken on suddenly sank in. All I saw was very fit people who knew exactly what they were doing whereas for me, I had never experienced anything like this before. The support which these very fit people gave me and the camaraderie, along with the Threshold support team and chaperones helped me to believe that I 29