All posts by Chris

Meet The Neighbours returns!

It’s been a while… but it’s back!

The Dockumentary provided a timely reminder of just how much fun we had in the very early days of The Dock, before cafes and teams and camera crews, just boiling up a kettle and setting up some deckchairs in the public space outside the Arc Apartments for our pop-up ‘Meet The Neighbours’ events on Saturday mornings.

So a long-overdue resurrection: this Saturday from 11-1, coffee and scones on the house, time to meet up with the fabulous people who are moving in to the TQ and forming its very first community.  See you there!

Take that, Sky+!

Modern technology, eh?  Those who recorded Mission Titanic on good old-fashioned video recorders, or even (how quaint) actually watched it when it was on, got to see the full story… But anyone who tried to catch the Dockumentary by Sky+ing it was left without the crucial last 4 minutes, as the late-running UTV schedule on Sunday night befuddled the electronic brain of the mighty box.

Which left Mission Titanic as the most infuriatingly unfinished story since Edwin Drood (literary reference to impress Susan).  Without the last 4 minutes, it’s the Story of a man looking for a boat – That’s a nice boat! – Community in the Titanic Quarter looks like fun – They’ve got a nice boat in Cardiff – Setbacks, medical and boat-related – Will he get his boat? – It’s the 11th hour and all looks bleak – But wait! A miracle! – It’s – it’s – END OF PROGRAMME

So for anyone still teetering on the cliffhanger, I proudly present:

The Story So Far…

The DOCK is much more than a cafe… it’s all about building Life in the Titanic Quarter.

(Although it is also a cafe – the best/only Pop-Up/Honesty-Box/Victorian-Edwardian-Industrial-Chic/Art-Gallery/Bring-Your-Own-Food/Volunteer-Run/Community-Living-Room/Cafe in the world!)

photo-9We believe that life is
SOCIAL – life is better in community
SPIRITUAL – life is better with meaning and purpose
SHARED – life is better together – especially in this exciting new era for Belfast city.

The DOCK started with a blank page amongst the building sites of the Titanic Quarter back in 2009.  It has been a crazy, unexpected, exciting adventure ever since…

The best way to catch up with the story of The Dock is to watch it unfold, fly-on-the-wall-stylee, in its very own UTV documentary which was broadcast in September 2012. Mission Titanic – the story of a man who went looking for a boat – but found something much better instead…

Six turbulent/exciting/amazing/blessed/stressed months of life condensed into 25 minutes of screen time!  Which is a bit of a surreal experience – and it does help you to see the big story in a way which is difficult to grasp from day-to-day.

So I’ve tried to do the same for the entire nearly-three-years of Dock life from Day One till now.  Some of you are maybe clicking on to this page for the first time (in which case Hiya!  You seem nice!) and so rather than expect you to catch up on three years of blog posts, here is the Dock Story in a nutshell (click to follow any of the chapters):

It started with a vision…

The vision became a walk…

The walk became a team…

The team became a company…

The company went looking for a boat…

The boat became a cafe…

And the adventure isn’t over yet…

So call down and see us some time at The Dock, right beside SS Nomadic.  You can find out all about the cafe, and why we love it so much, here.  If you do want to start right back at Day One and catch up on the whole story, click here (and pour yourself a long, strong coffee).

And I hope you’ll enjoy the mix of faith, risk, change, joy, history, friendship and grace that has become Life in the Titanic Quarter.

Ready for our close-up…

4 Comments

It’s less than an hour until Mission Titanic is transmitted on UTV… I’m irrationally excited, given that I’ve seen it a couple of times now!

My parents and in-laws and aunties have gathered to watch it together; fire is lit, kettle is on…

And earlier today we had a preview showing in Dock Cafe long with everyone who appears in the programme…

And before that I discovered in the Sunday Times that I’m like a more sensible Harrison Ford (which is possibly the bizarrest and best compliment I have ever received…)

It’s a very exciting day!

Stop asking about the boat, Paul…

The Dock popped up briefly on UTV Live tonight – but under strict instructions from Patricia not to give away the end of the story (does he get his boat?), it was kinda tricky to answer Paul Clarke’s mostly boat-related questions…

Did I manage it?!