It has been a MASSIVE week in Dock-World.  All of a sudden, long-planned hopes are exploding into life – so this blog post contains not one, not two, but THREE Revelations in the life of Dock – any one of which on its own might well be the most exciting thing to happen all year – but when all three of them happen within a few days…! Even my usually plentiful superlatives are exhausted.

Yesterday, 14th April 2011, was a red-letter day: as well as being the 99th anniversary of Titanic hitting the iceberg (not an omen, honest) it was the first meeting of the Dock Board of Directors (sadly minus Michelle, who was stranded in Dubrovnik – which has to count as one of the more impressive excuses I’ve ever heard!)  This group – a year in the making! – allows ‘The Dock’ to be constituted as a limited company – and as the Board includes people from all sorts of denominational backgrounds, the company genuinely is the ‘Shared Medley’ that we’ve been hoping and praying towards from the start.  It’s this company that can now start fundraising for The Dock Boat – and they do so from the solid basis of a professional, diverse and exciting core team of Directors at the helm.  Which means that The Dock is no longer a dream, or a hope, or a concept, or a bright idea in my head – The Dock Exists!

Today, 15th April 2011, as well as being the 99th anniversary of the Titanic sinking (not an omen, honest) was my first day as a Titanic Walking Tour Guide (as you can spot from the snazzy uniform).   I loved it!  You’ve heard me extol the virtues of Colin’s walking tours many times on this website – well now I get to be part of showing visitors around this incredible part of Belfast, into evocative old nooks and crannies like the Drawing Office and the Pump House, and out into the huge, breathtaking vistas of the slipways and the Thompson Dock.

A tiny little bit of nerves with my first group this morning was dispelled by a genuinely brilliant bunch of people (pictured right) who were a pleasure to lead – thanks guys!

In case you’re wondering why a Chaplain should be tramping around leading Walking Tours, part of the Dock project has always been to keep looking out for creative ways to part-fund the post of Chaplain to the Titanic Quarter. You’ll remember that last year I was providing some clergy cover in Carrowdore and Millisle on that basis – and this is the latest idea – with the added benefit that I love walking, I love the Titanic Quarter, I love meeting new people and I love wearing the snazzy red jacket!

Speaking of Chaplains:

Sunday 17th April is the next big date for your diary.  It’s the day when I truly, genuinely stop being all by myself in the Titanic Quarter and welcome another Chaplain onto the team – which will hopefully continue to grow and diversify from here.  So come along to the Dock Walk at 3:33pm at the Odyssey Streat and meet Karen – who, as well as being the minister of Sydenham Methodist church, will now also be a Chaplain to the Titanic Quarter and part of the Shared Medley team of people living out the hope, love and unity of the Christian faith in the TQ.

Welcome to the earliest-ever Dock blog: it’s 6:59am and I’m in the Green Room at the BBC. I am your live “thought for the day” today on Radio Ulster, which means waiting for an hour between the first broadcast at 6:55 and the second at the luxurious hour of 7:55.

The first time I did this gig, the excitement of watching the BBC behind the scenes kept me amused for the whole hour – so it’s probably a sign that I’m becoming a cynical old hack that I’m now looking for ways to multi-task and use the hour profitably…

Anyway, enough of my glittering showbiz life.  I’m here today to show you some fantastic pictures of the plans for Titanic Belfast, the shiny new star-shaped building towering over the TQ.  This week I met with Cliodnha, CEO of the project, and she was kind enough to give me some artists-impression projections of the interior of the building to share with y’all.  So you’re very privileged – not many people have seen these yet!

So the idea is that as you come up the escalator (biggest escalator in Ireland, I’ve learnt!) you pass through different themed areas.  The experience starts off looking at boomtown Belfast and the reasons why Titanic was built here…

…before taking you on a multimedia ride on a time-car through a recreation of the working shipyard…

…before looking at the fit-out and launch of the Titanic, with full-size replicas of some of its rooms and cabins…

…leading to a section telling the story of Titanic’s voyage, the disaster and its aftermath…

…followed by a huge theatre showing specially-filmed footage of the wreck on the ocean floor, with information about ocean exploration worldwide…

…before finally the top two floors are taken up with a massive banqueting suite, again modeled on parts of the Titanic’s design (that looks like a replica of the grand staircase in one of the pictures – yes, you recognise it as the place where Kate and Leo kiss at the end of the movie, it’s OK to admit it…)

Doesn’t that all look awesome!

Well that was quite a Sunday!

I started off the day in Sydenham Methodist church, giving “the Dock Talk” (as well as causing some nice carnage by attempting to re-enact the David-and-Goliath story).  I’m still loving spending my Sunday mornings visiting loads of different churches and denominations – sometimes up-front to talk about The Dock, sometimes as a visitor and a “regular punter” in the pews.  Why am I telling you about Sydenham Methodist in particular?  Well you might be hearing a little bit more about them in future weeks… stay tuned….

Next it was back to the Titanic Quarter to watch the TQ 10K run in action.  Apart from feeling like a complete pudding in my Sunday Best and pointy shoes while everyone around me was looking fit and healthy in trainers and running gear, it was fantastic to see the Arc Apartments bunged with people – runners, families, locals, visitors…  Some of the neighbours we met at Meet the Neighbours were in the middle of it all, loving seeing their area become a community.  There was a hog roast, bouncy castles, sunburnt people slurping ice-creams…

And in the middle of it all, running for The Dock, was Kev the Running Rev, braving the beating heat to run the 10K in aid of the ‘Dock Boat Fund’.  The pic on the left is before the race, in the middle is the “after” photo (looking remarkably fit and unflustered, you’ve gotta say…) and on the right is the sponsor form with all the details of how you can support Kev’s run. Get downloading now!

And here’s a 10-second message from the man himself:
 

Then it was time for another great Dock Walk – a fantastic mixture of people, a blazing hot day, time to chat, time to be quiet, time to think, time to walk (or, if we’re honest, stroll – it was very warm) and as always time to connect over coffees at the Premier Inn at the end of it all.  Followed by:

Next it was off over the road to the Odyssey Arena, where some Dock Walkers joined the streaming queues to go to church in the Odyssey Arena.  Not quite my usual Sunday evening… as a special event, the Metropolitan Tabernacle were holding their Sunday evening service in the Odyssey, with choirs, drama, singers (including a close-harmony acapella group) and a message from Pastor McConnell.  Then, on the way out, The Dock got to help with the distribution of leaflets for another event coming up in the Odyssey: a visit from Angus Buchan, a world-famous author whose book Faith Like Potatoes has brought inspiration and hope to thousands.  So, at the doors, it was the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the Angus Buchan team, and The Dock working in harmony – talk about a Shared Medley!

The Angus Buchan event is on the 27th and 28th May and you can find out more here.

I was on an in-depth walking tour of the TQ today (the reason why will become obvious within a week or two… I’m being very mysterious recently eh!) and got to see around the back of the Paint Hall (the huge shed which is now being used as a movie studio).

Standing there, you can see the past and future of Belfast in one glance.  The past is represented by old steam cranes, tracks in the ground, half-buried foundations – the evocative remains of the docks that built Titanic.  The future lies in the huge new visitor attraction towering above the slipways on one side, and the movie studios on the other.  The last time I was down in this part of the TQ, the Titanic Belfast signature project didn’t exist (other than some foundations and an architect’s vision).  Today it’s well on the way to being ready for its opening next year, filled with high-tech 3D theatres, banqueting venues, exhibitions and all sorts of cool stuff.  It will be the biggest Titanic attraction in the world – high time that Belfast had something to mark the fact that all the best Titanic heritage is found here!

Beneath the prows of Titanic Belfast, the movie studios are gearing up for another season of production on the huge HBO fantasy epic ‘Game Of Thrones’.  Some of the production crew have already started moving into the Arc Apartments (we met some of them at the deckchair cafe last week).  The second series has been given the official green-light, meaning many more months of production here in Belfast.  And the first series is about to premiere on Sky Atlantic – I think it looks fab!

If you want a fun ‘Spot The Location’ game, have a look at the ‘Making Of’ video below and see how many Northern Ireland locations you can recognise!  I know the crew spent some time in Tullymore for the forest scenes and Magheramorne for the rocky backdrops – but plenty of other familiar-looking views can be seen in the background as well.  And it’s good to know that any scene set in a smoky castle interior was actually filmed right here in the TQ…

(if you don’t want to watch the whole video, the bit about the NI locations starts at about 11 minutes in)