Tomorrow is the first Saturday of the month… the sun is shining… the coffee is hot… the deckchairs are ready… the chaplains’ legs are sore after pushing 500 flyers under 500 doors…
Why that can only mean it’s time for:
This month we’re stepping up a gear: not only Saturday brunch, but a BBQ on Thursday night as well. Come along to the ARC apartments for free food and good craic – see ya there!
Today was the anniversary of The Dock’s darkest day. It was this time last year, at the Diocesan Synod, that I gave a defenceless woman a black eye by throwing a parsnip at her (if you’re new to the blog and you’re thinking Whaatttt???, the full gory story is here.)
Today was Synod Day again, and a chance to give a quick update to m’learned friends about all the exciting progress in recent months. In case Edith was there, I had brought a crash helmet to provide her with appropriate protection if anything went awry this year – and sure enough, as I walked up to the podium, there she was in the front row! She gratefully accepted the crash helmet – just in case – but thankfully this year my talk at Synod was injury free – hurrah!
So Edith really is a Dock Hero. It was fantastic to see her again today – sans black eye – and catch up with one of the warmest, funniest (and – phew! – most forgiving) people I have met in the course of Dock World. She even told me that she took the parsnip home to make soup – what a great way to deal with the unexpected slings and arrows (and parsnips ) of life. Edith, when the day comes to smash a bottle of champagne against the Dock boat, we won’t need royalty – your name will be at the top of the list.
OK, I know by this stage you must be fed up looking at me, and that any further media exposure after my TV blitz a few weeks ago (when I helpfully shouted RRAAAARRGGGGGHHHHHH!!! to a watching world for 62 seconds) seems like small fry in comparison, but The Dock Is Out There again today. First up, if you clickety click onto the BBC news site, I am apparently the fifth-most exciting thing happening in Northern Ireland today! (direct links here and here)
Then if you tune in to BBC Radio from 5pm this evening and listen to Evening Extra, apparently I’ll be in there somewhere too! Just had a great time being interviewed at the Common Grounds cafe (which was one of the Case Studies in the Dock Business Plan), along with Nigel from Common Grounds (who was able to talk about about how much fun it is when a church runs a community cafe), Mark from East Belfast Mission (who was able to talk about how much fun it is when Anglicans and Methodists work together, and when TQ connects with East Belfast and the Newtownards Road) and me (who was able to gabble on as usual). (pic shows Alexandra off of the BBC, me, Nigel and Mark)
UPDATE:
You can listen to the interview on iPlayer (for the next week anyway) about 49 minutes into Evening Extra here.
Whhheeewwww… the Dock’s big weekend is just about over. The Maritime Heritage Festival in the TQ was a huge, roaring success. The Dock Walk today was awesome. Book Group was the best ever. And the dinner and Business Plan Launch on Friday night… wow. I am so proud of my awesome team who put this all together, and humbled and privileged to be part of The Dock.
A more considered report when I’ve had a bit more time to take it all in, but for now a quick link to some photos taken by Annette McGrath, in which you can spot some of the Great and the Good who attended the event – click here.
And if you want to hear the point of view of one of the guests, you can click onto Gladys Ganiel’s report for the Slugger O’Toole blog here. (Be warned that the lurkers who post comments on the Slugger blog are pretty merciless, so don’t read on beyond the article if you have delicate sensibilities!)
As part of her article, Gladys included a video of the bulk of the presentation – if you have a free half hour (!) you can watch it here. (Susan kindly asks that you don’t notice that one of my suit buttons was hanging off. Oops, too late!)
Well it would probably be quicker to tell you what isn’t happening down in the Titanic Quarter this weekend….
First up of course it’s the Dock Dinner and the Business Plan Launch on Friday night at the Drawing Office – a chance to float the Dock vision to some of the most influential people in the land. Am I nervous? Yes. Am I excited? Yes. We’ve been building towards moments like this for the last year-and-a-half – and it’s been a huge, humbling privilege to be part of The Dock every step of the way. Many tremendous people have given freely of time and skills to get us to the point where we can hold this dinner – it truly is an expression of the team, the ‘Shared Medley’, we’ve been praying for from the start.
I’ve just finished printing off the numbers for the tables, don’t they look snazzy? Makes me feel as if I’m organising a wedding…
Of course, because it would be too boring to hold the dinner in an otherwise-quiet weekend, we’ve chosen to land smack-dab in the middle of the Belfast Titanic Maritime Festival, which is running from Friday 24th until Sunday 26th. Last year this was a fantastic event and all the signs are that it will be even bigger this year – pride of place goes to the exhibition of beautiful old Tall Ships behind the Odyssey and around the Abercorn Basin, but there are also fairground rides, food stalls, bands and all sorts of “good day out” type stuff. Well worth a visit over the weekend! As you can see from the pics, the gorgeous old boats have already started to arrive – kinda appropriate in the weekend that we’re launching our own campaign for a boat!
In the middle of it all The Dock will of course be helping to stretch both your legs and your brain cells… you can join us on Sunday afternoon at 3:33 in the Odyssey Streat for the Dock Walk, when we’ll weave our way through the festival and the tall ships as we explore, pray, catch up and chat; or you can join us for Dock Book Group at 9:30 on Saturday morning in the Premier Inn, when we’ll find out what everyone made of Tim Keller’s Reason For God.
Add in a weekend of Titanic Walking Tours, the fact that the massive Crown Princess cruise liner is rumoured to be berthed in Belfast this weekend, and you’ll have the kind of mad, busy, bustling, vibrant weekend we long to see for the TQ and for our city.
It’s been a turbulent week in Belfast – I had the great privilege last night of being part of a prayer walk organised by the wondrous Willowfield Parish around the areas affected by the violence in recent days. By praying, by walking, by believing, by launching Business Plans, by coming along to Maritime Heritage days out, by welcoming tourists, by building wherever we can our vision of a renewed city… we refuse to return to the bad old days. Let’s live out the new Belfast this weekend.