Have you been yet?  Have you found the hidden wee gem, admired the amazing view, met the super-friendly stall holders, imbibed the lovely atmosphere, bought some gorgeous gifts, sampled the wide variety of stalls, found it to be quaint, chilled and charming?

Not my words, I hasten to add, but quotes from the rave reviews that Dock Market has started to attract on its Trip Advisor page… So our handmade pop-up market is now apparently the no.3 best place to shop in Belfast, and our handmade pop-up cafe is the no.3 best place to grab a cuppa!

Hats off (preferably handmade knitted bobble hats with funky buttons) to the Dock Market stallholders, who have run with this idea and made such an incredible success of it over these past months.  They faithfully built up a following throughout the winter months when passers-by were few; they fed and watered the pop-up cinema crowds; they provided many many pressies that went under all our Christmas trees (and they provided the Christmas trees as well!)

From the very start, they stayed true to their ethos and their mission statement: If you make it, you can sell it.   They have provided countless opportunities for local creative people to start or grow their businesses, and the quality of the things they produce, make, cook and create never ceases to amaze me: none of this stuff would look out of place in Covent Garden or Notting Hill.

And, into the bargain, they have turned another empty space in the Titanic Quarter into another haven of life, fun, friendship and community – not least amongst the traders themselves, who always remark on the family atmosphere and warm welcome they receive when setting up their stalls for the first time.  They deserve every word of the glowing reviews, every step of increased footfall, every bit of the buzz that has increasingly started to grow around the Market over recent weeks.

So if you haven’t already experienced what a chilled-out Saturday feels like in the docks (or The Docks – Dock Cafe and Dock Market), put some dates in your diary now.  This is what the new Belfast feels like on a sunny summer Saturday – quirky, friendly, creative, inspiring and unique.  And you might even get to see a little red tram run past – but more on that later…!

 

It’s now nearly 103 years since a shipwreck on the icy Atlantic sent shockwaves around the world.  The events of the original Night to Remember on 14th April 1912 became the first global news story – and a story that resounded not just around the world of 1912, but also across the decades that followed.  Titanic’s fate has been re-told and remembered in pretty much every generation, every language, every form of media.

But there’s something especially powerful about remembering Titanic in Belfast, where the story began.  After a century of silence, we’ve found our voice and our place in the story.  People now travel from all over the world to mark this anniversary in Belfast – often people who have a personal family connection to Titanic’s passengers and crew.

So it’s been an immense privilege for The Dock to have been involved over the past few years in developing and enabling A  Night To Remember at Titanic Belfast.  The evening involves a journey through the story of Titanic, from design to build to launch to departure to tragedy, as told through the eyewitness accounts of a series of the characters who watched it happen.  Then (after a nice glass of warm cider) we gather by candlelight on the slipways at 11:40pm, the moment of collision, to mark the moment that the world changed forever.

Here’s a taster of last year’s event:

Tickets are still available here if you would like to join us again this year.

Or if you fancy getting involved behind the scenes, there are still one or two spaces for Dock volunteers who would like to help make it all happen.  It’s a very special event to be part of, so if you’d like to help out, just send me a message using the contact form here.  (Not that I would try to bribe you or anything, but you get a T-shirt!)

UPDATE

And it was amazing, and as always the Dock volunteers did a fabulous job.  Highlight this year for me: standing in the darkened Drawing Office where Titanic was designed, lighting candles at 11:40pm and watching light start to fill the room as the flame was passed from one person to the next

For the last few days Dock Cafe has been the last stop of the Passion Walk, an ‘urban pilgrimage’ in which you walk through the journey of the Easter story while walking through the streets of Belfast city.

Everyone arriving at the Dock for their cuppa at journey’s end was so impressed and moved by the experience that I thought I’d better try it myself…

On arrival at the starting point at Glengall St you’re equipped with an MP3 player (or shown how to access the audio files on your smartphone) and headphones if necessary, so that you can take the walk completely at your own pace.  There’s something very powerful about being left to your own devices during a reflective time like this; you’re not hurried along (or slowed down) by anyone else’s agenda.

And so you strike out into the noisy streets of the city, and the busyness and distractions are part of the point – the audio guide makes the point that the events of the original Easter week did not happen in a hushed bubble, but amid the daily lives of hundreds of busy people, most of them unaware of history turning on its axis in their midst.

You are guided to stop at various points where the surroundings enhance or play off the various points of the story – I loved the idea of stopping in a dingy, dodgy alleyway when remembering the scene of Jesus’ beating, or using the ‘Sheep On The Road’ sculpture at the Waterfront Hall to think about Jesus as the good shepherd.

Again and again you notice familiar parts of the city in a new light, or see things you’ve walked past a hundred times but never really seen before.

By the time I reached the Dock I was ready for my cuppa – but I also felt as if I had properly stopped (or at least paused) my racing thoughts, worries and plans for just a little while.  Of course I got distracted and waylaid sometimes (not least by the temptation of a Nutella crepe at the City Hall – ahem) but the rhythm of walking, pausing, listening, reflecting, at my own pace and alone with my own thoughts and prayers, soon drew me back.

What a powerful and unique way to experience the Easter story.

PS if you’re kicking yourself for missing out, do not despair!  Susan Mansfield, the creator and co-ordinator of the walk, is joining us at Sunday Nights at the Dock on Easter Sunday at 6pm in Dock Cafe to tell us how the idea was born.  There may even be a very short version of the Walk involved…. see you there!

Howdy all – and apologies for a longer-than-usual absence from cheery updates…  It may be howling a gale and abso-flippin’-lutely baltic outside – but allegedly, Spring is upon us and Easter is just around the corner – so here are the plans for the next couple of days in Dock-World:

A little bit more info about the Passion walk – this is something brand-new for Belfast and sounds like a very powerful way to engage with the Easter story.  (And very Dock-esque – those of us who were Dock Walk regulars in the early days can attest to how profound and refreshing it can be to engage with the Bible in the open air, walking and reflecting.)

Here’s the description from the excellent peeps behind the whole enterprise:

New for Belfast – an urban pilgrimage for Easter

The Passion Walk is an invitation to walk the path of Jesus’ Easter journey in the streets of Belfast. Walking a route across the centre of the city with an audio guide, and pausing at certain key locations, you are invited to enter into the events of Jesus’ final hours. As was the case in Jesus’ day, the ongoing life of a busy city becomes the backdrop for the events of the story. The Passion Walk is an invitation to experience the story in a new way, and perhaps see the city in a new light.

Walkers are invited to begin their journey at Grosvenor House, 5 Glengall Street (behind the Opera House) any time between 10am and 1pm on Friday 3rd April (Good Friday) and Saturday 4th April. Walk at your own pace, alone or with friends. The Walk ends with refreshments and a space for reflection at The Dock Cafe in Titanic Quarter.

You can find out more and sign up for the walk at their website here.

And so Dock Cafe will become Dock With A Difference for those two days – a space where you can reflect on the walk and what it meant to you – while (of course) still enjoying some sumptuous freshly-ground Bailies coffee or gourmet Suki tea!

Then remember that at 6pm on Easter Sunday (5th April) it’s time for our monthly Sunday Nights at The Dock – this month telling stories from the Passion Walk and the 40 Acts movement as well as plenty of time for worship, prayer, coffee, chat and all the usual goodies!

And then the Dock team get a very short break before it’s back to the wonderful madness of Dock life on Tuesday 7th!

Speaking of which – I spent a very moving couple of minutes recently reading the comments in the Dock visitors book (which you are welcome to add to yourself – it’s the big red book on the counter just as you come down the ramp.)  How amazing to think that our crazy cosy cafe has had such an impact on so many people (and has even spawned a homework service I see – you kept that quiet Brian!)

(This is an updated version of a previous blog post that had some errors.  Read it all again sure, it’ll be fun!  Your reward if you do is some pics of the Wee Tram in a very very nearly completed state…)

So, as you all know by now, I’m about to embark on a mad new idea.  It is a Tram.  And it is Wee.

Before I tell you all about the Wee Tram, a bit of explanation… Don’t worry, I’m not leaving The Dock, giving up on my faith, or any of the other stories I’ve heard doing the rounds… In fact, the Wee Tram is my best attempt to make sure that I’m still able to remain one of the Chaplains to the Titanic Quarter and play my part in The Dock for many years to come.

Y’see, part of the deal of The Dock from the beginning was the Honesty Box Cafe wouldn’t provide my salary – or that of any of the other Dock Chaplains.  We all support ourselves in other ways – mostly through ministry in local churches around Belfast.  Since the early days of the Dock, my main source of support has been the Church of Ireland Diocese of Down & Dromore, alongside other local churches where I’ve served as a temporary or part-time minister (and for one memorable summer, a Titanic Walking Tour guide).

The Diocese took the unutterably, wonderfully bonkers step back in 2009 of providing seed-funding for a Chaplain (me – look at my little young smiley face!  Bless) to start a blue-sky Something (The Dock, as it turned out) in the new Titanic Quarter – which was at that stage still a load of building sites and bright ideas.  The adventure that has evolved from that risk has been the most breathtaking, faith-inspiring, constantly-surprising roller-coaster ride of my life (so far…).  But what starts with seed funding has to  find its own feet sooner or later – and that’s where the Wee Tram comes in.

On 15th March I preached my last sermon in St Clements, the friendly little East Belfast parish where I’ve been part-time minister for the last three years.  From now onwards, The Wee Tram will start to provide some of the beans-on-toast on my table at the end of the day.  The Diocese is still providing some support in the near future – but it’s time to start preparing for The Dock (and my place within it) to stand on its own two feet.

So that’s the background to the Wee Tram.  So, what is it?!!

The Wee Tram is a hop-on-hop-off tour around the Titanic Quarter, on board carriages modified to echo the beautiful red-and-cream tram cars that ran down the Queens Road in Titanic’s day.  (Yes, on top of being a Titanorak, I am now a Tram Nerd – Tramorak?!)

The pic on the right shows one of the 1912-era tram cars in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  In Titanic’s day, the tram lines that criss-crossed Belfast city like a spider’s web carried rich and poor alike between the quiet suburbs and the grinding industrial metropolis of the shipyards… A city connected by the tram.

We’re not trying to connect up the whole city (yet…?) but the Wee Tram is a response to a clear need in the Titanic Quarter – to connect the hordes of visitors at Titanic Belfast to all the heritage assets such as the Dry Dock, SS Nomadic and the Drawing Offices – as well as more recent visitor attractions such as Cable & Wake, T13, PRONI or the Odyssey and W5.

So the tram will operate on a constant loop, 7 days a week in the Summer (and weekends and school holidays in the Winter), connecting up the Titanic Quarter – as well as providing a quirky, fun and evocative way of taking a tour of the old shipyards.

There will be video commentary on board, which we’ve been shooting over the past few weeks – a kind of Titanorak’s guide to all the amazing things to do and see around the tram route – with the aim of encouraging passengers to ‘hop off’ at the next stop and see some of the amazing things the Titanic Quarter has to offer.

If you still can’t imagine exactly what it looks like, think of ‘Le Petit Train’ that you often see in towns and villages in France.  (That was where the germ of the idea came from – what is ‘Le Petit Train’ when translated into Belfastese?  The wee tram!)  It’s also been compared to the Portrush Puffer, if that jogs your memory!

The carriages are under construction as we speak, by a fantastic Dungannon-based company called George McIvor Ltd – this is what they looked like in January and February respectively:

In March (drum roll please) the first one emerged from the paint booth looking like this:

And at the end of March, complete with beautiful oak-slatted seats and roll-down rain covers (ha! as if they’ll ever be needed), they look like this:

Don’t worry, I’m not going to turn the Dock blog into a Wee Tram advert – if you’d like to know more as time goes on, the tram has its own website at www.theweetram.com (not just yet – it’s still under construction), and its own Facebook page and Twitter account (@theweetram)

But since I’ve dropped lots of hints and allusions while the whole thing has been simmering away for the last few months, here are the answers to Frequently asked questions about Tram Travel:

When will it be up and running?
Er…Yes.  Next!

Where are the tram rails?
It runs on tyres. I’m not that much of a Tramorak.

Can I be a tram driver?
Only if you have a full Category D (coach driver) entitlement on your Driving Licence

How much will it cost?
£6 adults, £5 concessions, £20 families for a 2-day unlimited hop-on-hop-off ticket – with discounts for anyone with a ticket from one of the local attractions such as Titanic Belfast, W5 etc.

Where will it go?
On a continuous loop Titanic Belfast – slipways – HMS Caroline – Thompson Dock – Samson & Goliath – Drawing Offices – SS Nomadic – ARC apartments (including Dock Cafe (woo hoo!)) – W5 – Odyssey (& footbridge to City Centre) – PRONI – Titanic Belfast

Does this all mean you’re not a minister any more?
Absolutely not.  I’m still a Dock Chaplain, still an ordained minister, still feel that my life’s work is to be part of building Life in the Titanic Quarter.

How do you feel about starting your own business?
Petrified, stressed, excited, exhausted, energised, exhilarated beyond belief

What’s the best thing about doing this?
Going into business with my wife.  Susan is one of the co-directors of the company (along with my friend Chris – so between the three of us there are two Chrises and two Bennetts, just to make life easy for everyone) and I’ve never really realised before what a truly remarkable businesswoman she is.  How cool to find a whole new side to someone you’ve been married to for 17 years!

So hey! See you on the tram…