Well that was some perfect 110%-proof Christmassiness!

Our Titanic Christmas gathering last Saturday included the crooning of carols by candlelight, the lighting of the TQ Christmas Tree, Abseiling Santa proving that he don’t need no chimney (while we sang that well-known Christmas favourite ‘Santa Claus is coming down the ARC’), and a guest appearance from Aladdin and Jasmine from the forthcoming SSE Arena panto to lead us in ‘Jingle Bells’…

And of course – Santa jumped!

It was great to see Dock Cafe rammed to the rafters with cheery carollers – and it made me just so thankful for the amazing community that has formed here in Titanic Quarter year-on-year.

I had a wee check back through the archives and realised that this was actually our eighth Titanic Christmas – it’s quite incredible to track the changes down through the years.

The very first gathering saw a handful of people gathered around a blazing brazier in an empty shop unit on a snowy night in December 2010:

This is how it all began…

As the years went by, every year seemed to be bigger and better than the last.  Although we were always based at the ARC (even before there was a Dock Cafe!), we did moonlight occasionally to the Odyssey for abseiling Santa or to SS Nomadic for our mulled wine and mince pies:

But the heart and soul of the thing has always been watching the Dock regulars, the Titanic Quarter community, faces aglow with candlelight, singing and smiling and meeting and melting the cold of a December night with the warmth of a new community.

Life in the Titanic Quarter – it’s growing all the time…