How many church services can claim to have included fireworks, an aerial stunt-flying display, pirate ships, snowfalls, sunsets, a hog roast, a Channel 4 documentary film crew, or a cruise ship departure?  I love the Dock Walk! – those are all things that we’ve stumbled across while on our Sunday-afternoon danders over the past year.

And tomorrow promises to be another interesting day – there’s a Metro Monster Mash festival at the Odyssey all afternoon, climaxing with a fireworks display at 6pm (see here for details).  But don’t worry – the Dock Walk will meet at The Streat at 3:33pm as normal; we might be able to sample some of the attractions, we might be able to walk our normal route (or we might not) and we might find all sorts of unexpected sights as the Titanic Quarter increasingly becomes a hive of activity and a lively, vibrant community.

That’s the beauty of church without walls – completely unexpected and completely flexible!

And PS – don’t forget the clocks go back tonight – extra hour of sleep, woo hoo!

And PPS – a date for the diary – keep the evening of 15th November free at all costs!  It’s The Dock’s second birthday and we have big plans.  As I darkly hinted a few days ago, there have been some major developments in Dock-World over the last few weeks – I’m going to save them up and announce them in style at the Dock Birthday Bash!

Sorry for being out of touch for a few days – it has been possibly the busiest and most dramatic week yet in the whole history of Dock-World!  But d’you know what?  I’m going to keep you in suspense for a while yet – watch this space…

In the meantime, how’s this for a top bit of fame-at-last?   One of my new contacts this week had been flicking through this book – a newly-published collection of factoids, stories, trivia and interesting snippets about Titanic – and on page 157, there I was!  It’s interesting to see how much has changed in the nearly-two-years of The Dock.  I’m pretty sure i recognise the wording of this little paragraph from the press release that accompanied my commissioning at the Pump House back in November 2009 – when, according to the blurb, the desire was that “the Church of Ireland would have a presence in the Titanic Quarter.”  Thinking back to all the changes, conversations, encounters, challenges and Holy-Spirit-nudgings that led from that vision, to the current vision of the Shared Medley of churches working together… it’s been quite an adventure!

So the sceptical among you might be wondering if the Dock Walk was cancelled amidst the apocalyptic weather and rainstorms on Sunday afternoon… ye of little faith!  Here are the Dock Walkers, enjoying their lovely stroll:

Although to be absolutely honest, the walk took us all the way from the Odyssey Arena, across the car park to the Premier Inn, where our chat took place over coffees, hot chocolates, cake and crumpets…

Best church ever!

So many great photo-ops around the TQ these days – beauty shots, pics of changes and new developments, images loaded with hope for the future, and others carrying echoes from the past…

Like this one, spotted on the wall in the vestry of St Patrick’s church on the Newtownards Road, where I was preachin’ a few weeks ago.  It’s taken from the top of the churchtower of St Patrick’s in the 1970’s, looking over a very different (and very busy) working shipyard… amazing to think of all the changes we would see if we had a time-lapse of photos from the top of that tower!

And speaking of history, another little gem of Titanic heritage for fellow-nerds… for a brief but gratefully-appreciated few days this week, we were able to bring the Walking Tours into Thomas Andrews’ office in old Harland and Wolff headquarters building.  Thomas Andrews (as you may remember from the  movie) was the chief designer of Titanic, and his office still contains his beautiful, well-used old desk.  Amazing to be able to stand right beside the desk that once contained the diagrams and schematics for Titanic…

And while we’re on the Walking Tours, more famous visitors last weekend: the ladies in this picture are the daughters of William McQuitty, the producer of the old black-and-white Titanic movie, A Night To Remember. The movie re-ignited interest in the story of Titanic when it was released in 1958, and lots of people reckon it’s a much better film than Kate’n’Leo’s effort… the film print has been digitally-restored (ready for release at anniversary-time next year no doubt) – it’s going on my Amazon Wish List!

(You can see a glimpse of the movie here.)

And while we’re (kinda) on the subject of boats, I got to set foot on a boat in the Abercorn Basin (the hopeful eventual location the Dock boat) for the first time this week – joining some of the Titanic Quarter Ltd gang on the Chili Padi, which serves as handy overnight accommodation for James, one of the TQ Ltd top bods.  It was great to chat about some of the plans for the coming years in the development, and yet again be swept away by the hope, dynamism and vision that the TQ team are putting into the regeneration of Belfast.  It’s impossible to breathe the same air as these guys and be down-in-the-mouth or negative about the future, so – just to reiterate my thoughts from a few days ago – let’s join their optimistic revolution and keep talking it up!

And speaking of the future, while I was at a meeting in the City Hall this week, I popped into a jobs fair that was advertising the available job opportunities in Titanic Belfast next year – great to see it bunged with people keen to join the TQ momentum!  And while I mention Titanic Belfast – as you can see, it now looks 99% finished on the outside – and the fit-out of the interior continues apace.  Only a few months to go before my first tour…

And finally, we started off with a shot of the cranes in the 1970s – so let’s finish with a few shots taken last week.  A sudden shaft of sunshine on the Dock Walk last week (rather fabulously, bursting through the clouds just as we were listening to our worship song) made these rather cool reflections in the puddles at the base of the cranes – nature and industry combined for an unexpected moment of beauty:

Another auspicious event in Dock-World this week: the first time that all the Dock Directors have been in the same room at the same time. (At all previous meetings there was always someone who couldn’t make it – although I’m honour-bound to say that they always had a good excuse…)

So here for the very first time is the full Usual Suspects-style line-up of the masterminds behind The Dock:

(L-R Michele, Philip, Sarah (ultra-efficient company secretary), David, Hugh, Margaret (honourable chairperson), Michael, Me)

And can I just say, what an utterly, utterly brilliant team to have at the centre of Dock-World – I couldn’t be more excited about all that lies in store for us…