So many great photo-ops around the TQ these days – beauty shots, pics of changes and new developments, images loaded with hope for the future, and others carrying echoes from the past…
Like this one, spotted on the wall in the vestry of St Patrick’s church on the Newtownards Road, where I was preachin’ a few weeks ago. It’s taken from the top of the churchtower of St Patrick’s in the 1970’s, looking over a very different (and very busy) working shipyard… amazing to think of all the changes we would see if we had a time-lapse of photos from the top of that tower!
And speaking of history, another little gem of Titanic heritage for fellow-nerds… for a brief but gratefully-appreciated few days this week, we were able to bring the Walking Tours into Thomas Andrews’ office in old Harland and Wolff headquarters building. Thomas Andrews (as you may remember from the movie) was the chief designer of Titanic, and his office still contains his beautiful, well-used old desk. Amazing to be able to stand right beside the desk that once contained the diagrams and schematics for Titanic…
And while we’re on the Walking Tours, more famous visitors last weekend: the ladies in this picture are the daughters of William McQuitty, the producer of the old black-and-white Titanic movie, A Night To Remember. The movie re-ignited interest in the story of Titanic when it was released in 1958, and lots of people reckon it’s a much better film than Kate’n’Leo’s effort… the film print has been digitally-restored (ready for release at anniversary-time next year no doubt) – it’s going on my Amazon Wish List!
(You can see a glimpse of the movie here.)
And while we’re (kinda) on the subject of boats, I got to set foot on a boat in the Abercorn Basin (the hopeful eventual location the Dock boat) for the first time this week – joining some of the Titanic Quarter Ltd gang on the Chili Padi, which serves as handy overnight accommodation for James, one of the TQ Ltd top bods. It was great to chat about some of the plans for the coming years in the development, and yet again be swept away by the hope, dynamism and vision that the TQ team are putting into the regeneration of Belfast. It’s impossible to breathe the same air as these guys and be down-in-the-mouth or negative about the future, so – just to reiterate my thoughts from a few days ago – let’s join their optimistic revolution and keep talking it up!
And speaking of the future, while I was at a meeting in the City Hall this week, I popped into a jobs fair that was advertising the available job opportunities in Titanic Belfast next year – great to see it bunged with people keen to join the TQ momentum! And while I mention Titanic Belfast – as you can see, it now looks 99% finished on the outside – and the fit-out of the interior continues apace. Only a few months to go before my first tour…
And finally, we started off with a shot of the cranes in the 1970s – so let’s finish with a few shots taken last week. A sudden shaft of sunshine on the Dock Walk last week (rather fabulously, bursting through the clouds just as we were listening to our worship song) made these rather cool reflections in the puddles at the base of the cranes – nature and industry combined for an unexpected moment of beauty:
