Return the QE2 to the Clyde
Posted: Mon May 09, 2005 1:24 pm
Dunno if any one ever reads Melanie Reid's occasional column in Saturday's Herald. I'm not sure why I bother but there was an interesting bon mot this weekend regarding the QE2's imminent retiring. Seems likely Cunard will either pension her of by the time she's 40 or when new European legislation comes into effect which for fire protection purposes bans the use of wood in the interiors of cruise liners. So any time between 2007 and 2010. She will either be scraped in Pakistan or Cunard are open to offers. A consortium of business men are keen to buy her and use her as a floating hotel and conference centre in Southhampton. Nothing wrong with that but cruiseliners come and go from Southampton all the time so though she's an elegant lady why go to a floating hotel permanently tied up in the harbour when you can have the real deal at the next berth?
Anyway all this chimed with something discussed on the skyscrapercity site a month or so ago about the feasiblity of bringing the QE2 back up the Clyde to Yorkhill Quay (with all due acknowledgement to JSweenypm) where she would form part of the Riverside Museum's exhibits:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=5&pp=20
So I'd be interested to hear what people on Hiddenglasgow think. Would having one of Glasgow's / Clydebank's / the Clyde yards' greatest shipbuilding and engineering acheivements back in the heart of the city, moored in the river that gave birth to her, as a tribute to all the men that worked on her and all the men who worked in the Clyde yards, be a worthwhile thing?
To my mind this would capture the imagination of the Scottish public; in a single move would reunite the city with its river; and would be a potent and instantly recognisable symbol for Glasgow. Who needs the Eiffel tower or the London eye, or the Sydney opera house when you have the QE2?! And, dare I say it better, even than Edinburgh castle is for Edinburgh?!!!
What do you all think?
Cheers
CC
Anyway all this chimed with something discussed on the skyscrapercity site a month or so ago about the feasiblity of bringing the QE2 back up the Clyde to Yorkhill Quay (with all due acknowledgement to JSweenypm) where she would form part of the Riverside Museum's exhibits:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=5&pp=20
So I'd be interested to hear what people on Hiddenglasgow think. Would having one of Glasgow's / Clydebank's / the Clyde yards' greatest shipbuilding and engineering acheivements back in the heart of the city, moored in the river that gave birth to her, as a tribute to all the men that worked on her and all the men who worked in the Clyde yards, be a worthwhile thing?
To my mind this would capture the imagination of the Scottish public; in a single move would reunite the city with its river; and would be a potent and instantly recognisable symbol for Glasgow. Who needs the Eiffel tower or the London eye, or the Sydney opera house when you have the QE2?! And, dare I say it better, even than Edinburgh castle is for Edinburgh?!!!
What do you all think?
Cheers
CC