Sad news this week – one of The Dock’s founder members, Philip Patterson, passed away at the weekend.

Among his many, many other accomplishments, Philip was there right at the inception of The Dock, and was one of the people who believed in the idea – and moved and shook whatever needed to be moved and shaken to create the post of ‘Chaplain to the Titanic Quarter’.  He created the parish boundaries which are still in place today, re-drawing church geography so that the TQ was set aside as a unique area in its own right.

He was also part of a day that was in many ways Day One of the dream of The Dock – a trip to St Peter’s Barge in Canary Wharf back in late 2008 to see how church-on-a-boat worked in the London docklands, and to start envisioning the way in which some of those ideas might take root in Belfast.  He watched my boundlessly enthusiastic, utterly naive baby steps towards Dock-world with a wry smile that always hid a fierce support and unstinting encouragement.

He was a steady hand on the original Dock Board of Directors, guiding the project through days of brainstorming, through the formation of the company, launching the Business Plan, appointing new Chaplains, signing the Meanwhile Lease, opening the cafe…

As each new crazy idea came along, he greeted it with quizzical good humour – and then got behind it with all his heart and soul.  He simultaneously dreamed the big dreams and drilled into the little details.  We wouldn’t be here today without him, and we will miss him terribly.