A little reminder to be at the Kennedy Centre in West Belfast tomorrow for the celebration of a big Titanic anniversary: the week she entered the Thompson Dock, the massive concrete Graving Dock that still lies perfectly-preserved at the far end of the Titanic Quarter.

For those of you who haven’t visited the dock on a Titanic Walking Tour or a Dock Walk (for shame!), the Thompson Dock is the best place to get a sense of Titanic’s massive scale.  As it was the largest dry dock in the world in 1912, the Olympic Class liners were designed to fit within inches, filling it from side-to-side and end-to-end, and, even when the water was pumped out of the dock so that the ship rested on the keel blocks, filling the sky above like a skyscraper.   The ships were brought in when they were almost complete, but needed to be out of the water for some final finishing touches in the last few months of the build process.  Today you can stand at the capstan at the head of the dock and vividly imagine the Titanic towering above you as the men at the bottom of the dock fitted the propellers, painted underneath the ship, and made the final checks before departure.

And this week marks the hundred-year anniversary of Titanic’s arrival in the dock, hauled in by the 5 capstans, turning with immense power driven by the steam engines in the Pump House.  So to mark the event in style, we’re playing tug-of-war along the length of the Kennedy Centre mall.  Glenn Ross, Northern Ireland’s strongest man, along with a few of his mates, will play the part of the capstan, hauling the ship along the length of the Dock.  And on the other end of the rope, the part of the Titanic will be played by local schoolchildren, resisting the pulling power of the capstan as best they can!

I’m really looking forward to it – and really honoured to be asked to rally the troops and run the event.  It’s one of those Titanic anniversaries (like the 62-second launch last May) when we can celebrate all that was heroic and admirable about the Belfast men that built these mighty ships.  Events later this year will obviously have a more sombre tone as we remember that fateful maiden voyage – but it’s important to mark the anniversaries where we can have fun as well!

The event starts at 11am on Tuesday 7th Feb in the Kennedy Centre mall.  See you there!

A turbulent week in the TQ…

As some of you may have gathered from blog posts and Facebook messages asking for help, the Titanic Quarter has sadly had one of its first instances of dealing with tragedy.  You might’ve noticed on the news the story of 20-year-old Joby Murphy, who fell from the Lagan bridge last Thursday.  Teams of police, divers, fire department, sonar operators and community search-and-rescue volunteers have been looking for him all week, and during the past few days the search moved to the area around the Titanic Quarter.

It’s at times like these that the Church is really called to step up to the mark – and hopefully, even though The Dock is a work-in-progress, we did our best!  Having heard that a warm, dry venue would be appreciated for the search teams and family to use as a ‘base of operations’, we were able to open our ‘Meet The Neighbours’ venue for a couple of days.  Huge thanks to TQ Ltd (who gave permission to use the unit, and helped us out when we blew the fuse by trying to boil too many kettles at once!), the Premier Inn (who allowed us to use their loos and kept us supplied with platefuls of sandwiches!) and to the wonderful, wonderful volunteers who made the tea, bought the biscuits and provided the vital welcome and conversation to make the shop unit a safe, welcoming, warm place to be.

Even in the midst of such a horrible situation, it was powerful to see the church at work.  A room with some tables and deckchairs, a Super Ser and a steady supply of tea and coffee may not sound like much, but it’s amazing the difference these things can make.

So it brought the focus of the Dock’s vision – to provide a shared space in the heart of the TQ – into even sharper relief.  These spaces are needed, in all our communities – sometimes we don’t realise how necessary they are until the unexpected happens.  You’ll know from my dark hintings over the last couple of weeks that there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes to see if The Dock might be able to provide such a space sooner rather than later – so that ‘Life in the Titanic Quarter’ can flourish even while we’re saving up for our beautiful old boat.  So watch this space…!

And hopefully it goes without saying – we’re all keeping Joby’s family in our prayers, as the search moves further up Belfast Lough in this coming week.

A meeting in the TQ this morning took an exciting turn when the chap I was meeting extended a last-minute invitation to join him at some fancy shebang being held at the Belfast Metropolitan College. Hoping (as always) for a free meal (in vain as it turned out), we blagged our way in to a room full of – goodness! Is that the First Minister and Deputy First Minister? And hello again, Lord Mayor! Naomi Long, how nice to see you! Yes, it was a room full of the great and the good – and me. Who still wasn’t really sure what it was all for…

All was revealed as we took our seats for the speeches. It was the launch of a long-planned project to open up the access links to Titanic Quarter – particularly, in this case, the foot/cycle path from Bridge End Station and East Belfast into the TQ. If you’ve ever got off the train at Bridge End and walked to the Odyssey, you’ll know that up until now it was an excitingly death-defying trek along the footpath beside the Sydenham Dual Carriageway, with a heart-warming view of trucks thundering past in clouds of exhaust fumes. But at one point, just after you’ve crossed the footbridge, you can look through the railings of a metal fence and see a tantalisingly-close glimpse of the TQ and the Harbour Road – before the footpath takes you away towards the four-lane highway of screaming traffic.

Well, the gate in that fence is now being opened – in fact it was opened, in the presence of all the dignitaries (and me) this morning, so that the path connecting the station to the Harbour Rd – the old route used by countless thousands of shipyard workers over the generations – could be walked-upon for the first time in 10 years. As well as connecting up the train station, the route also connects the TQ to the Connswater Greenway – so suddenly, with the opening of one little gate, the ways and means of getting to the see the sights and sites of this fabulous part of the city have multiplied.

A new path that’s also an old path; history and future combined in the same footprint; Good News for Belfast… it’s a typical Titanic Quarter story…

More details on the Beeb here

And I could also mention that this unexpected and star-studded start to the day wasn’t even the most exciting thing to happen today – but one thing at a time, my lovelies, one thing at a time…

First up, huge thanks to all those who responded to The Dock’s call for help yesterday – the situation is still going on at the Odyssey and any help over the next few days would again be greatly appreciated!  The Meet The Neighbours shop-unit will be open from 10-5 and a bit of time to man (or woman) the teapot – or even just dropping by with a fresh pint of milk or some biccies – all helps as we try to make a safe, warm, dry space for those involved in a horrible situation.

And while I remember, a big thank-you to the anonymous donor who sent The Dock a Tesco gift card – it’s been extremely useful!

And now – onwards into the new month that stretches ahead of us, closer than ever to the Big Dates in April!  But of course there’s no need to wait ’til April to start getting involved; there’s plenty happening this month and, as promised, I’ll try to keep you up-to-date with it all…

First up, your venue of choice this month (when you’re not at Dock events, naturally) has to be the Ulster Hall – they are holding the premiere of Titanic Journey, a new orchestral work inspired by the Titanic (Fri 17th Feb, 7:45, tickets £8-£22), a lunchtime lecture about our favourite city development project, the awesome, visionary Titanic Quarter (Wed 29th Feb, 1-2), and a photographic exhibition of the beautiful (even in decay) Harland and Wolff Drawing Offices (every day from the second week of Feb).  I’ve been privileged to walk through the heartbreakingly-atmospheric hallways and rooms of the Drawing Offices as part of my tour-guiding (some of my ‘umble snaps can be seen to your left and right) – and I really, really recommend that you don’t miss this…

Big centenaries this month too: this week marks the hundred-year anniversary of the Titanic being pulled into the Thompson Dock for the final stage of its fit-out, and there’s a special event to mark the occasion at 11am on Tue 7th Feb at the Kennedy Shopping Centre.  This should be a good one! – we’re going to re-enact the event with a tug-of-war along the length of the shopping centre, with 5 of Belfast’s strongest men playing the part of the capstan, and local school children playing the part of Titanic straining against the rope…  The chaos will be marshalled by (humble cough) your very own Dock Chaplain (so as you can see, that’s me in the photo), and it’ll be a great chance to pay tribute to the strength and skill of Belfast’s shipbuilders 100 years ago.  BE THERE!

Work looks nearly complete on Titanic Belfast – and I had to smile when I looked out across the basin today… Look closely at the pic on the left (it’s a fuzzy iphone photo, sorry!) and see if you can spot the 2 builders enjoying the best view in Belfast…

Last-up for now, a reminder to sign up for the Yardmen walk on 1st April, and to check out the great advertising that’s popping up all over the place as excitement mount for 2012, our year.  You’ve probably already noticed the posters, the campaigns, the TV ads – but just in case you missed them, crank up the volume and Press Play on this baby:
 

People of the Dock – I need your help! The Dock ‘Meet The Neighbours’ venue is open today (and possibly over the next few days) to provide a base for a search-and-rescue operation which is currently going on after a tragic accident near the Odyssey Arena. We are providing a warm venue with a steady supply of tea and coffee for all those involved in the operation as well as family members who have gathered. Anyone available to make tea or drop by with some biscuits – please let me know!