Cunard's 175th anniversary to feature carnival record attempt

The Cunard shipping company was founded in Liverpool and its liners retain close ties with the city

Plans to celebrate Cunard's 175th anniversary in Liverpool will boast a spectacular carnival featuring as many as 5,000 participants.

The 4 July event will see local people gather for a Guinness World Record attempt for "most models on a catwalk".

A fireworks display will then be held as the Queen Mary 2 replicates the Merseyside-founded company's first transatlantic voyage from 1840.

A food festival called Eat the Atlantic will run on 4-5 July.

The celebrations have been organised under the supervision of Lancashire-born fashion designer Wayne Hemingway and Liverpool City Council.

They will follow a separate event between 24-26 May, when the Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Victoria liners will meet on the River Mersey for the first time.

The cruise ships will host a water ballet display, with thousands of spectators expected to attend.

The Queen Mary 2, the Queen Elizabeth and Queen Victoria will form an arrowhead in may

Mr Hemingway has urged people of all age groups and backgrounds to get involved in the record attempt.

It will not be restricted to female models, he said, but rather feature people "from dance troops to twins, from pensioners to the police, from couture to cadets."

He said: "This once-in-a-lifetime record-breaking carnival will be an audiovisual feast designed to showcase the city's diverse, welcoming, expressive, humorous and fun-loving spirit that characterises it around the world.

"But we need people to make it happen, thousands of them. So this is a shout-out to all the city's folk from every aspect of life to come and help us make history."

Sir Samuel Cunard, who founded the historic steamship service, sailed aboard the RMS Britannia to Boston on its maiden voyage on 4 July 1840.

The Cunard Building on Liverpool's waterfront is the most visible legacy of the city's ocean liner heritage.