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I should have posted this info before today, but better late than never, I suppose.
Merchant Navy Day will be celebrated in Liverpool with a service at St Nicholas' Church, Chapel Street, at 12 o'clock.
After the service there will be a procession across to the Pier Head where a wreath will be laid to commemorate the many seamen who lost their lives at sea.
I always go there every year then end up in the Eldonian Club for Lunch and a few bevies, but unfortunately I cannot get there this year. I did a speech there in St Nicholas Church two years ago, `Mersey Memories`.
The service was well attended, in church and at the Seamen's Memorial. [IMG]http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...rdofhonour.jpg[/IMG]
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Lennie Sidebotham, Chairman of Salford Merchant Navy Association who was in the Battle of the Atlantic presents the wreath.
[IMG]http://i438.photobucket.com/albums/q...Sidebotham.jpg[/IMG]
After reading your post this morning we arrived too late for the church service but managed the seamans memorial service, thank you for the information.
I also go every year, the turnout was well attended as always. I got a little plastic covered remembrance card from a veteran which I will always treasure. I reads,
In war and peace they plied their trade, over the angry seas.
Remember them as here you stand, besides these placid quays.
Ernie.
That sounds lovely Ernie , wish I could have been there,unfortunately I'm back in drydock. An operation went wrong and I'm back on the table tomorrow,
BrianD
Those barnacles can be the very devil to shift Brian. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by brian daley
All the best. :)
Brian, get well soon.Quote:
Originally Posted by brian daley
Best wishes.
All the best for your op Brian. just getting over mine. Tell them not to use a knife and fork this time.
Hi Ernie, missed having a pint with you yesterday, couldnt get over, maybe next time.
All the best Brian!:002:
Good luck Brian, hope all goes well.
Sorry to hear you're in dock Brian. I hope you're up and about soon.
---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:43 PM ----------
Pity you couldn't have got there, Brian. Is 'Mersey Memories' the one where you mention all the waterfront bars in all ports, that were favourites for seamen?Quote:
Originally Posted by captain kong
I hope you're on the mend too, after your bad spell.
Hi Oddsocks,
Yes that was the one, everyone seemed to enjoy it including the Bishop.
here it is again.............
MERSEY MEMORIES.
What a wonderful river the Mersey is, it is a conveyor to the seas and oceans of the world. It is a river that has changed so many lives.
Let us not forget, it was from this River Mersey, that those brave men and women, sailed into U-boat Alley, in the Battle of the Atlantic, and in the Malta and Russian convoys, many never to return, some leaving their bones on the bottom of the ocean, others were buried in some far off land, many suffered extreme hardships in lifeboats. The Ship Owners stopping their wages on the day the ship went down.
It was this same River Mersey that carried me out, as a young Deck Boy, to sail amongst the flying fish, the dolphins, the whales and the odd sea serpent.
From the River Mersey we sailed to those other great rivers, The St. Laurence, to Montreal, the Hudson to New York, a thousand miles up the Amazon to Manaus, the Plate, the Congo, the Whampoa to Shanghai, the Houghly to Calcutta and the Shatt al Arab in the Gulf.
Sailing out of the River Mersey on the old Cunard Liners, the `Franconia` and `Britannic`, gave me a chance to meet many celebrities, from Mary Pickford, Bob Hope, Burt Lancaster and many others
In the Market Diner opposite pier 90 in New York, I sat next to the beautiful Grace Kelly one night, and the next I sat with Cadillac Kate.
Up on Broadway I shook hands with `The Hand That Shook The World`, in Jack Dempsey’s Bar and in the clubs across the road I danced to the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra.
The River Mersey took me out to Jamaica on a Fyffe’s banana boat and a meeting with Errol Flynn where we shared a bottle of Rum on his yacht `Zacca`.
I sailed down the River Mersey in 1959 and met Fidel Castro and when I asked him to buy me a drink he told me to "Vamoose" or something like that.
The River Mersey allowed us to go on the worlds biggest pub crawl, From Joe Beefs in Montreal, the Diner in New York, the Scandy Bar in Valparaiso. To May Sullivan’s Bar in Buenos Aires, , then across to Tombo Mary’s in Apapa, Nigeria, down to Del Monaco’s in Cape Town, up to the Anchor Bar in Mombassa, across to Mary Bashems and the Blood House in Sydney and Ma Gleason’s in Auckland.
This River Mersey took me out to see all my girl friends around the world. To Rosita, Paquita and Maria in South America. To my lovely Wahine under the swaying palms in Tahiti. To Maggie in New Zealand where she and her friends sang, `Now is the Hour`, as we sailed out into the Pacific, To Hanako in Moji, Japan, where I had to share a hot bath tub with her Mamasan and Papasan, whilst drinking Sake. To Dedeh in Tanjong Priok in Java, with her colourful sarong and beautiful long black hair. Then there was Mimi in Hong Kong who kept me going in free beer with the dollars she robbed off the American Sailors.
The River Mersey took us out across the Atlantic on the big white `Empress’s, `the Empress of Scotland` and `Empress of France`. We went to Montreal and drank in the `House of Scouse` and saw Joe Finnegan and Tommy Lawless win the singing contests on the Bulova Watch Radio Show.
On the `Empress of France` we hit the iceberg and lost 40 feet of bilge keel.
After sailing down the River Mersey, many jumped ship, to be Waiters and Bartenders in New York, or Lumberjacks in Canada, Sheepherders in New Zealand or Wharfies in Australia.
After 24 years as an Able Seaman, it was on the banks of the Mersey, up on Derby Square, where I sat for my Mates and Masters Certificates, which gave me that wonderful feeling when navigating a 300,000 ton tanker across the oceans of the world.
Now that I have retired after 45 years of seafaring, I stand on the Pier Head and looking out onto the dark waters of the River Mersey, I can see the ghosts of the old ships sailing past, outward bound to a world that no longer exists.
The `Reina Del Pacifico` to Valparaiso, the `Georgic` taking £10 Poms to a new life in Australia, the `Franconia` and `Empress of Scotland` off to New York and Montreal, the Blue Funnel ships to Java, China and Japan. Elder Dempsters, Harrison’s, Ellerman`s and `Maggie` Booths with many others, all have sailed off the face of the earth, never to return. Then I think of the Mersey, what a wonderful River, it gave me all of this and much more. Thank you, River Mersey. Brian Aspinall,
That's the one Brian. Good stuff.
Certainly stirs the memory. Sailed to most of the ports and bars but on different ships. Sadly I never got to Oz.