People in nostalgic Cunard photos found after appeal

Celebrated cruise liner company Cunard has said staff and guests have come forward with their memories after an appeal to track down the faces featured in an exhibition marking the shipping line's 185th anniversary.

To mark its anniversary, the luxury shipping firm has collected images from former guests, workers and newspaper archives and wants to uncover some of the stories behind them.

Images were collected for the Sea of Glamour exhibition, curated by photographer Mary McCartney, which will be launched in Liverpool later this month.

After an appeal to find some of the people shown in the photos, former staff and guests got in touch with Cunard to tell their stories.

Anne Logan, 84, originally from the Port Talbot area, recognised herself in a photo showing staff aboard the QE2 in 1975.

It shows 26 women in matching uniforms posed on the deck for a feature in the British tabloid Reveille, with the caption saying they were known as "cyclic cleaners" because of the constant circle of work in keeping the ship clean.

Ms Logan, a former stewardess, said the picture brought back memories from her 30 years working on the seas, including serving celebrities who travelled onboard.

"I looked after lots. Rod Stewart was with us three times, first with Britt Ekland then Alana Stewart and then Rachel Hunter - so with a different woman every time," she said.

"Elton John and his wife Renate Blauel came across from New York to Southampton. He was very nice and polite but very, very quiet," she said.

"He spent all of his time with his manager and she spent all of her time in the shops."

Ms Logan worked on 19 world cruises before settling in Southampton where she became a care worker.

She has not lost her love for being at sea and still goes on a cruise once a year.

Another photo shows Leading Aircrewman Roy Eggleston with his then-girlfriend saying goodbye at Southampton before he boarded the QE2 as part of the 825 Naval Air Squadron in 1982, during the Falklands War.

The liner was converted into a troop ship at the time.

The romantic connection captured on camera did not last and the couple later split up, but Mr Eggleston, now 69 and living in Sutton on Sea, Lincolnshire, contacted Cunard to reveal himself and described his former fiance as "a beautiful part of my life".

The exhibition also features David Lawrence, pictured standing aboard a lifeboat from the QE2 that he kept on the front drive of his semi-detached home in Llanharry, Rhondda Cynon Taf.

His son Geraint, 47, said he was about four when his father bought the boat, which he named Rhona after his daughter.

"My dad was a little eccentric," he said.

"He didn't often follow the same path as everyone else. If you think about it not many people would buy a lifeboat to keep in their driveway, but this wasn't the first time he had done something like this."

Mr Lawrence, a former coal miner, has since died but his son said: "It's great to see that despite the loss, the story of my dad and Rhona lives on today."

Lee Powell, vice president of brand and product at Cunard, said they had been "overwhelmed by the incredible response to our call for photos".

Anniversary celebrations will take place in Liverpool from 26 May when Cunard's newest ship the Queen Anne will arrive in the city.

The Sea of Glamour exhibition will be open to the public at the Royal Liverpool Building from 28 May to 17 June and will be free to view, before sailing around the world on the Cunard fleet.