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)

Another Dock-related great day out: there’s a brilliant exhibition in grounds of the City Hall at the moment, showcasing the photography of Robert Welch.

Robert Welch is one of the great unsung heroes of the Titanic story.  He was employed by Harland and Wolff to take a photographic record of every ship built in the Belfast docks – which he did with flair, style and a brilliant eye for a well-composed shot.  Most of his photographs – and the ships they captured – are now forgotten, but the photos he took of Titanic under construction, although of course he wouldn’t have known it at the time, have been reprinted, pored-over and used to illustrate countless Titanic stories.

If you’ve ever seen a black-and-white photo of Titanic in Belfast, the chances are that Robert Welch was the photographer (and you can quite often see the ‘RW’ stencilled in to the corner of the print).  His shots of men at work in the shadow of gigantic propellers, or hanging precariously off the spiderweb of scaffolding surrounding the ship, deserve to be up there with iconic photos like the lunchbreak on the gantry of the Empire State Building. They’re a tremendous record of an almost unrecognisable Belfast, swarming with industry and pumping out ships which were the envy of the world.  One of his most famous shots shows the Queens Road heaving with thousands of dock workers heading home after a hard day’s work with a shadowy half-built Titanic looming over the scene in the background; a ‘moving picture’ indeed.

Some of Robert Welch’s photos are now getting the attention they deserve, blown up onto huge open-air display boards around the grounds of the City Hall.  In the sunshine today, with people picnicking on the grass and admiring the exhibition, it all felt very continental and cosmopolitan.  The exhibition only lasts till the end of April so it’s well worth making the time for a visit!

It is great, great, great being involved in Dock-world at the minute.  Y’know how I posted a few months ago about how the wheels and cogs were starting to turn faster and faster (kinda like – cheesy link – the Titanic engines bursting into life)?  Well the momentum just keeps building – and it’s all good stuff.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be celebrating some major milestones in Dock-world.  We’re soon about to have the first-ever Board of Directors meeting, which will help establish The Dock as a company in its own right, and as a genuinely shared initiative across our church denominations.  We’re about to start a fundraising programme with the vision of having The Dock Boat in place in the Titanic Quarter as soon as possible.  And we’re about to commission a new member of The Dock chaplaincy team.

Things start getting busy this coming Sunday (10th April).

First up, Kev the Rev will be kick-starting the fundraising programme by running the TQ 10K run to raise funds for The Dock.  You can see him off at the starting line on the Queens Road at 1:30, greet him at the finish line at Arc Apartments mere minutes later (right Kev?) or sponsor him using the form which you can download by clicking the picture to your left.

Then, at 3:33pm (before you ask, we just chose the time because it’s easy to remember – everyone thinks there must be some special significance to the number!) we’ll be Dock Walking as always – fresh air, exercise, friendship, prayer, worship, discussion and of course a complimentary coffee at the Premier Inn to finish with – what’s not to like?

Then in the evening, the Metropolitan Tabernacle are holding an event in the Odyssey Arena called ‘Hope – Now and Forever’.  Gospel choirs, drama, music, a message from Pastor McConnell and free transport from all areas of the city – it’s going to be a huge event and The Dock will be there!  Slightly different from my usual Sunday evening, but in the spirit of the Shared Medley, I’m really looking forward to something a bit different and the chance to join in worship with thousands of others in the Titanic Quarter!

The event starts at 6:45, admission is free and if you’d like to find out more click here.

Sounds like a great day…