´óÏó´«Ã½

The SS "Queen Elizabeth" sailed from Southampton to New York for decades. I would see its funnels over the rooftops, while I was at school each Wednesday morning. After it left service in 1967 I was given this axe.

This week, the Queen named the third ship to carry the name: the same name engraved on my "Chillington Diablo" axe. Tuning into ´óÏó´«Ã½ News 24 to see that ceremony bought back wonderful childhood memories. This reminder of the fabled liner of the thirties which became a World War 11 troopship is just one.

It carried the rich and famous and I have a few objects which nod to the luxury they enjoyed. However this axe, which is a thing of great beauty, speaks across the year, of the craftsmanship and care that went into her.

She and the other liners that plied the Atlantic, made Southampton the first passenger port of Britain then and everyone took a huge pride in them. Great ships, my childhood and Southampton are all bound together in this marvelous object. It is a tool that might even have saved her from her ignominious end in the fire that destroyed her in the far east.

I still live by the sea and this takes pride of place in my inglenook fireplace.