A new access route to the Titanic Quarter, and a connection to East Belfast, Victoria Park and the Connswater Greenway – what’s not to love?

The Sam Thompson Bridge will be officially opened on 4th April, and as part of the opening celebrations, Connswater Community Greenway are looking for 2014 people to cross the bridge between 12pm sand 4pm:

So get down there!  (And bring some bread for the ducks.)

It’s all about the Titanic today… the boys from The Dock have just been to an inspiring and fascinating lecture by Dr Robert Ballard – the man who discovered Titanic’s resting place back in 1985.

It sets the scene perfectly for the next couple of weeks: early April is Titanic Time.   2nd April is the day she left Belfast – the day when we can temporarily suspend our knowledge of the tragic end to the story, and take time instead to celebrate the skill, vision and sheer hard work of those who hammered together the largest man-made moving object in the world on the Belfast slipways over 100 years ago.

I think it’s really important that Belfast marks that big date as well as the more sombre date of the anniversary of the disaster; so here in The Dock we’ll be holding an event on Wednesday 2nd April:

We’ll gather at the cafe at 7pm and walk through the TQ past the places where Titanic was designed, built, launched and fitted out – which will bring us to the exact spot where Robert Welch, the shipyard photographer, would have stood to take that iconic picture of Titanic sailing down Belfast Lough at 8:15pm on 2nd April 1912.

And then of course, to get the balance right, it is vitally important that we remember the end of the story.  14th April is the date on which Titanic struck a glancing blow off a stray iceberg and the world changed forever.  Over the past few years it has been an honour for some of us from Dock-World to be part of the events marking that anniversary – and so consider this your invitation to a beautiful, moving evening which is becoming a cornerstone of the calendar at Titanic Belfast: A Night To Remember.

You can book a place by following this link – do it quickly before all the slots disappear!  And then prepare for a journey through the galleries of Titanic Belfast as actors in period costume bring you through the events of 14th and 15th April 1912 using the words of those who were on board.   Then at 11:40pm we’ll gather by candlelight on the slipways, on the spot where Titanic began, and remember her end.

We’ve done lots of things with the Titanic story over the decades in Belfast – we’ve mourned it, tried to forget it, ignored it.  Now we’re trying to remember and re-tell it with all the respect, fascination and dignity it deserves.  Don’t miss it.

You’ve maybe noticed that Belfast is turning pink in 2014… The Giro D’Italia is coming to town for three days (9th-11th May) and two of them (9th and 10th) start right here in the Titanic Quarter.  We’re expecting massive crowds, loads of excitement, many many people on bicycles (I’ve even been inspired to extricate my rusty old Dawes from the shed) and lots of pink (the symbol of the Giro is the pink jersey – a la the yellow jersey in the Tour De France):

Make sure you call at The Dock in the middle of it all – we’ll be there with all the tea, coffee and buns in the world, pop-up markets galore, and loads of info about what’s happening and where.  And if you’re on two wheels, remember that The Dock has a handy railing to which you can chain your trusty steed while you refuel!

1.  The new sand-and-lacquer floor is now ultra-ultra-ultra-grippy!

2.  You now know what’s going on.

(We’d noticed a lot of new customers doing a dance of confusion and befuddlement on the ramp at the entrance as they tried to figure out how this strange cafe-that’s-not-really-a-cafe works.  Now they know!)

3.  The best little room in Belfast just got even better – it now includes a baby-changing table!

4.  Our latest artwork exhibition features fabulous old shipyard designs which we found in rusty metal drawers in a far-off corner in the unrestored part of the beautiful H&W Drawing Offices.  The skill and intricacy of each schematic is pure art – even though we don’t know what a Comyn Condensate De-Oiler (Automatic Type) might be!  Come in soon for a closer look – they really are spectacular

5.  There’s a new ‘best seat in the house’:

Leather armchairs…
recliners…
in a quiet corner of the cafe…
sun streaming through the window…
best view in Titanic Quarter…
an antique shipyard thingamabob to rest your cup on…
What’s not to love!

6.  Rest your mug on a piece of history!

There are now even more tables, furniture and benches rescued from the H&W Drawing Office and lovingly restored by Dock volunteers – so you might be resting your coffee mug on a table that once was used to design ships:

And the best thing of all about the new Dock Cafe is that it’s finally OPEN!! – after our week of renovations, and then our impromptu floor-fixing rescue job last week, it’s lovely to be ready for a ‘normal’ week of Dock Cafe life again.  We’re open 11-5 every day (Including St Patrick’s Day tomorrow), the kettle is on, the scones are fresh from the bakery… Your cuppa awaits!

It might be the first time in the history of The Dock when things went wrong because we did them too well…

Our lovely new shiny glossy Dock Cafe floor, which caused so much pride and celebration at the end of our renovation, turned out to be so glossy and smooth that, on a rainy Thursday afternoon last week, it turned into the Titanic Quarter’s first-ever ice rink.  Slips, trips and comedy pratfalls abounded – which would have been hilarious if it wasn’t so dangerous…

We managed to (ingeniously?!) create a temporary solution by mopping the floor with diluted lime juice – which meant that throughout the weekend, customers who stood in one place too long might find themselves stuck to the floor!  But at least they weren’t falling over…

But clearly the time has come to do it properly – so today (Wed 12th) and tomorrow (Thur 13th), with deep apologies, Dock Cafe will once again be closed as we treat the floor with a combination of sand and clear lacquer.  Call in on Friday to see the new grippy high-traction Dock Cafe!