I recently heard someone say that after all the fuss of 2012, we’ve forgotten about Titanic again… Well – not on my watch!

The last few weeks have seen a host of different, creative, moving, inspirational ways to remember the Titanic story.

Back on 2nd April, we held an event to mark ‘She Was All Right When She Left Here Day’, walking through the Titanic Quarter and through the entire geography of Titanic’s creation – the places where she was designed, built, launched and fitted out.

The rain poured – I mean really, really poured.  You had to be a serious Titanorak to stand at the end of the Thompson Dock and squint into the grey murk of Belfast Lough to imagine the Titanic steaming off into the distance 102 years ago.  But we were there!

Then last Sunday, our evening service on board SS Nomadic looked at the stories of the 8 band members who so famously played until the very end as the ship sank – at first keeping the mood light with jazz and show tunes to stave off panic, and then, in the moment everyone remembers, playing hymns as the ship went down.

We looked at the various hymns and tunes that may or may not have been played – the eyewitnesses (and later the historians) disagreed, so we can’t be sure!  Even the films contain different tunes to the hymn ‘Nearer My God To Thee’.  We watched the version presented in the peerless black-and-white film ‘A Night To Remember’:

– before the Nomadic music group performed their own, spine-shiveringly beautiful choral version of the more familiar ‘Bethany’ tune.

And, because technical difficulties left us sans keyboard accompaniment, all our hymns that night were sung acapella (or with clarinet or sax) – which somehow made it feel even more Titanic-y!

That brings us right up to the anniversary – 14th or 15th April (depending on whether you count the moment of collision or the actual sinking as the date to remember).  A wonderful gang of tireless Dock Volunteers were part of a beautiful, moving event at Titanic Belfast called ‘A  Night To Remember’.    (I even wore a collar, to the consternation of many.)

We listened to the story of the disaster as told by Molly Brown, Lady Duff Gordon, Thomas Andrews and many other characters from Titanic’s day – before making our way out to the slipways by candlelight to mark the moment the ship hit the iceberg at 11:40pm.

What a moving sight, to see scores of people read the names of the lost by flickering candlelight on a beautiful still night.  Many of them were descendants of Titanic’s passengers who had made their way to Belfast especially for this occasion – such as the relatives of first-class passenger Dr Brewe, pictured here finding his name inscribed on the ramp on Titanic’s slipway.

Out on the slipways we listened again to Eric Whitacre’s ‘Water Night’,  sung by a virtual choir for the Titanic Centenary in 2012:

So I don’t think we’re forgetting.  I don’t think we’re celebrating or cashing-in either (accusations which are sometimes levelled at us in Belfast).  We keep telling this story, with its infinite angles, interpretations, lessons and grace notes.  Every year we find new ways to remember, and new ways for our Titanic past to shape and inspire our future.

A few little slices of life from a fabulous Friday in The Dock…

These freshly-baked jam sponges were donated by students from Belfast Met (and had all been eaten approx 0.003456 seconds later)

As always on Fridays, Barney brought his fiddle for a bit of trad live music in the afternoon – accompanied for the first time today by Krystjan on guitar:

Our return to Summer opening hours proved popular with lots of customers enjoying the chilled-out early evening vibe:

Amidst all the chat and craic there’s always a quiet corner in The Dock – sometimes watching the world go by through the windows, or sometimes engaging with one of the many creative ways to pray in the Dock Prayer Garden:

And finally – if a picture speaks a thousand words, a video speaks a million more.  So I’ve been practising with a rather snazzy new app called Spark Camera so that I can take little slice-of-life movies of Dock Cafe life in action without having to sit swearing at iMovie for hours to edit them. So expect to see plenty more of these:

Everyone laughs at me for using massively dramatic epic soundtrack music in lots of my Dock videos… all I can say is that, for those of us involved in the birth and explosive growth of Dock Cafe, from day to day it felt as dramatic, epic, dangerous, exciting, frustrating, moving and soul-stirring as the most mind-blowingly epic movie.

And for emotions like that, only Hans Zimmer will do.  So stick on your headphones (or crank up your speakers) and push Play!

PS Don’t forget that tonight is the latest in another very exciting (Dum Dum DUMMMMMM!!!, again) development in The Dock – our monthly services on board SS Nomadic.  Tonight – a tale of three decks – Nomadic’s, Titanic’s and Carpathia’s.  See you at 6!

At last – Dock Cafe stops being a cosy place to watch the rain on the windows – and becomes an airy space to bask in the sunshine!

With the longer evenings comes extended opening hours – so from 7th April you can enjoy marvellous mornings, amazing afternoons and easy-living early evenings in the best coffee spot on the planet:

The start of April also means the start of the third year of business at Titanic Belfast (hard to believe for those of us who watched it emerge out of the ground over the past few years)  For their birthday they released this excellent little video – how cool is Eric Kuhne!

The campaign to make Eric’s phrase “It’s a lot easier for people to throw rocks than to build something” the new Belfast motto starts here!

But of course the new Belfast motto is actually ‘She Was All Right When She Left Here’ – don’t forget to meet at The Dock at 7pm on 2nd April for our walk in the footsteps of Titanic on the day she left Belfast:

And on the topic of mottos, ‘Spring is coming’ is of course a misquote from Game Of Thrones – which (O unbearable excitement) starts its new series on Sky Atlantic on 7th April.  Here’s a taster:

So, plenty happening!  Did you notice that the cafe opens until 7 from the 7th, that the Titanic event tomorrow starts at 7, and that Game Of Thrones begins again on the 7th?  You can’t say I don’t make this stuff easy to remember!

You’d think we would have it figured out by now… But one of the great joys of Dock-World is that the question ‘What Is The Dock’ is often answered by new people in new, surprising ways, using words and images we hadn’t thought of (which are often miles better than the ones we HAD thought of…)

So here’s the latest clutch of responses on the cafe blackboard (along with our treasured piece of original Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada artwork!):

Another fantastic answer to the question appeared recently on Trip Advisor – you can click here to read what lots of our customers – locals, tourists, visitors, knitters – think of Dock Cafe (and see that we’re no.28 out of 711 now, woo hoo!) – but this entry in particular sums up (better than I ever could!) the answer to the question What Is The Dock:

The Dock is, and has been since it first opened its doors, the hub and heartbeat at the centre of life in Titanic Quarter. As a worker in the area, I can’t put into words just how much of a haven it has become to the workforce out there. It welcomes everyone from the SS Nomadic crew to the bankers to the Met lecturers and students. 

As an honesty box cafe, it operates solely on income generated from generosity of spirit of its patrons, and the time given selflessly by the volunteers. There’s nothing like coming in from the rain to the warmth and welcoming atmosphere of the Dock.It’s not just a simple tea and digestive biscuit affair- They have a wide range of teas, various blends of coffees, two soups at lunch time, scones, pastries and yummy tray bakes. And all it costs you is whatever you’re able to give. They don’t attach a price tag, just ask that a fair donation is made on the way out the door.

And all that is before mentioning the art gallery, the board games, books to read, the fantastic Prayer garden, and the whole place is filled with squishy arm chairs, worn comfy sofas and cosy nooks. It’s ideal for a quiet peaceful lunch break to escape, and it’s just as good with a group of friends on a chilly afternoon.

I love the Dock, and the ethos behind it, and I know that every single person that is welcomed through the doors feels the same. Much love to Chris and the volunteers, I’m spreading the word all the time about this wonderful place!