One more big revelation from the Dock Birthday Party, which I’ve been longing to tell you about for months, and can finally go public as it’s now official: a fly-on-the-wall documentary is being made about The Dock project.  I’m the fly!

To explain I’ll introduce you to Patricia, who joined us for the first of many days of filming, rather appropriately, on the day that we went to see the Arctic Penguin in Inveraray.  She got to follow me with a camera all day – so I turned the tables when we were waiting for our bags at the airport:

For those of you who missed the Dock Birthday Party (fools!), a few pics of what ya missed:

Great buzz at the deckchair cafe in the Arc Apartments:

New friends and neighbours…

Preachin’! (or rather, presenting the three world-premiere Dock Movies with their accompanying Big News from Dock-World – which you can catch up with here and here – one more still to come!)

And of course – cutting the cake and singing Happy Birthday… (Cheesy? Moi?)

Time to upload another treat – another Dock Movie Premiere – from the birthday party a few days ago: the video of Eleanor.

Eleanor is one of the most fantastic people I’ve met over this past year.  She’s a living example of the power of story, the way a human perspective brings history to life in a way that facts and figures never can.  Her memories of her father, and his very specific and significant role in building Titanic, are crystal-clear and absolutely fascinating.  So without further ado: Enjoy!

Well that was (you’ll be surprised to hear) the BEST NIGHT EVER….

Still a little breathless after the excitement, buzz and activity of The Dock’s second birthday – what a night!  More pics and stories to follow over the next few days, but for now I suppose I’d better clue all of you World Wide Web Dockers in on the big news of the night:

To nobody-at-all’s surprise but to everyone’s evident delight (the gasp of joy that went around the room when the pictures appeared on the screen made the entire last two years worthwhile!), The Dock has got its sights set on a particular boat.  Its name is the Arctic Penguin, it is currently for sale in Scotland, and it is 100 feet of 100-year old craftsmanship and loveliness.  And here it is:

So in exactly 24 hours we’ll be celebrating The Dock’s second birthday – 8pm, Tuesday 15th Nov, at the Arc Apartments.

For those of you travelling in from outside the TQ, I thought I’d draw an extremely beautiful and helpful map:

There’s loads of parking in the Premier Inn or Odyssey car parks – at the cost of 90 whole pence per hour.  Go on, treat yourself!

And for those of you coming from within the TQ, you know where to find us… Meet The Neighbours, mulled wine, summer barbeques, deckchair cafe… yep we’re using our ‘pop-up cafe’ shop unit at the base of the Arc apartments, facing the marina (the unit closest to the Odyssey).

Seeya there!