This week at The Archive we are delighted to welcome brand new title the Cleckheaton & Spenborough Guardian, as we mark 57 years since the launch of Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 2, fondly known as the QE2, on 20 September 1967. Meanwhile, we have added another 304,934 brand new pages to our collection, whilst we have updated 50 of our existing titles from across the United Kingdom.

So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, and to learn about the new liner the QE2 through the eyes of some school children from Pevensey.

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Before we look at the launch of the QE2, we must introduce our new title of the week, which is the Cleckheaton & Spenborough Guardian. This Yorkshire newspaper was established in the town of Cleckheaton, which lies to the south-west of Leeds in the centre of the Spen Valley, in 1867 as a Conservative title. Appearing every Friday at the cost of just one halfpenny, it circulated ‘largely in the town and its neighbourhood,’ and was described as a ‘local organ with the usual features of a district paper.’

In its early years the paper was known by the full name of the Cleckheaton Guardian, and Liversedge, Gomersal, Scholes, and District Weekly Record. It filled four pages with mostly local news, from the likes of Cleckheaton, Scholes, Birstall, Roberttown, Littletown, Hunsworth, Gomersal, Heckmondwike, Hightown, and Liversedge, with reports from the local police and the Cleckheaton Local Board. The newspaper also published notices of births, marriages and deaths, alongside a railway timetable.

In 1897 the title changed its name to the Cleckheaton Guardian and Spen Valley News, and the title was once again changed in 1915, this time to the Cleckheaton Guardian & Spenborough Guardian. The name ‘Spenborough’ comes from the administrative district that was established in 1915. Fast forward to 1955, when the paper shortened its name to simply the Spenborough Guardian, as it is still known today, although the administrative district of Spenborough was abolished in 1974 under the 1972 Local Government Act.

By the 1980s the Spenborough Guardian was still appearing every Friday. The cost of the paper was now 22p, however, and it filled 24 pages with a lively mix of local news, crosswords, recipes, pictures from the past and topics for women. Much in the same vein as the paper of over a century before, the Spenborough Guardian printed ‘District Briefs’ from the likes of Wake, Liversedge, Gomersal, Scholes, and Birkenshaw.

The Cleckheaton & Spenborough Guardian is published to this day, and is now released every Thursday.

Now before we move on to look at the launch of the QE2, we wanted to highlight some of the 50 titles we have updated this week. From Belfast to Brechin, from Caernarvon to Carluke, from Lancaster to Lancing, we’ve updated our existing titles from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Leading the charge is the Belfast News-Letter with over 36,000 brand new newspaper pages, whilst it’s a purple patch for Eastbourne, with over 28,000 brand new pages added to the Eastbourne Gazette and over 14,000 brand new pages added to the Eastbourne Herald respectively.

Across the Welsh border, this week also sees multiple new years added to the Caernarvon & Denbigh Herald, whilst we have updated seven of our Scottish newspaper titles, with new years joining the likes of the Daily Record, the Carluke and Lanark Gazette, and the Milngarvie and Bearsden Herald.

The Launch of the QE2

On 20 September 1967 the new Cunard liner the Queen Elizabeth 2 (or the QE2 as she is more commonly known) was launched in Clydebank by Queen Elizabeth II. Built by John Brown & Company, she left her Clydebank berth over a year later in November 1968, making her maiden voyage between Southampton and New York in May 1969.

In June 1969 the QE2 was back in Southampton, where new pages added to the Eastbourne Gazette reveal that she was the destination for a school trip taken by ‘nearly 200 schoolchildren from Pevensey and Westham Church of England Primary School.’ The article, which was published on 18 June 1969 and was headed ‘Pupils Tour a Famous Liner,’ detailed how:

The children started from Pevensey Station just after 7.30am, and the three-hour train journey took them to the Cunard terminal at Southampton, where the children made their way up the double gangway to the thick carpet and piped music atmosphere of the QE II.

What follows is an endearing account of the QE2 seen through the eyes of the children:

Going up the red-coloured stairway, many of the pupils looked over the bannisters and told their friends to do so also – to see the long drop down! They were guided in the Q4 Room, a bar, with its transparent screens, and there were shouts of ‘Isn’t it lovely?’ as the children went through into the Queen’s Room, which is a lounge. Here there was an impression of light and here began the cries of ‘It doesn’t seem like a ship’ and ‘Are we on the water? I can’t feel any rocking.’

The tour passed through the Queen’s Room and into the Midships Bar, from where they were conducted to the Columbia Restaurant, which was ‘thoroughly approved’ of by the group. Continuing with the tour, the Sussex school children went to ‘the upper deck, through the Theatre Bar and into the theatre, which seats 500.’ The article reports how, ‘by now, the pupils were agreeing that they would like to have a cruise on the ship.’

Next up on the visit to the QE2 was the Britannia Restaurant, where ‘several of the children stopped to look out of the large portholes,’ whilst also admiring ‘the replica of a figurehead from 1840 ship Britannia.’ After that, it was time for the Look Out Room. Here the pupils gathered around the chart, where they tried to change all the various dials and knobs – without success, as it happens, as ‘the instrument was turned off while the ship was in port.’

Finally, the Pevensey schoolchildren enjoyed some ‘pop music’ in the QE2’s 736 Club, and were impressed by the modern metal chairs of the liner’s coffee shop.

The Eastbourne Gazette ended its piece by including a selection of quotes from the children who had toured the QE2. Said Alison of the ship, ‘I liked the Queen’s Room best, the QEII is better than the Queen Elizabeth I,’ the school having toured the older vessel the year before. The last words can go to Christine, who commented:

‘It was the best trip we have been on – better than the one where we went to Hassocks. I would like to go for a cruise on the ship and take all my friends.’

Find out more about the QE2, ocean liners, and much more besides, in the pages of our Archive today.

New Titles

Updated Titles

This week we have updated 50 of our existing titles.

You can learn more about each of the titles we add to every week by clicking on their names. On each paper’s title page, you can read a free sample issue, learn more about our current holdings, and our plans for digitisation.

You can keep up to date with all the latest additions by visiting the recently added page.  You can even look ahead to see what we’re going to add tomorrow.