Another fantastic week of Life in the Titanic Quarter…

A bit of bling to start off with – the arrival of the Cannonball Run at the Titanic Slipways raised a few eyebrows, with a heady mixture of supercars, 70s costumes, tyre smoke, and ladies in teeny tiny bikinis (obviously, I didn’t notice at all…)

Another visitor last weekend was the massive Emerald Princess cruise liner – one of 40-something cruise ships stopping in Belfast as part of their itinerary this year.  While mere mortals got to see it (rather beautifully placed at the end of the rainbow) from the slipways during Sunday’s Dock Walk, Sally and some of the Titanic Walking Tours gang got a personal tour and a visit to the Bridge… not jealous at all.

And what a stunning Dock Walk – not sure if I’ve ever seen the TQ looking more beautiful…

Plenty of use of Dock Cafe this week – as well as the UTV launch of a certain little show about some awful eejit, we hosted meetings of the Community Faith Forum, the Templemore Ave School project, the Clonard-Fitzroy Fellowship and loads more… great to see the Boardroom Table getting plenty of use!

And even when there were no pre-booked groups in the house, Dock Cafe was bunged -our busiest week yet.  It was great to welcome back loads of  familiar faces from the Belfast Met college (and to see that they had clearly been spending the Summer spreading the word about Dock Cafe!).  It was great fun to be part of the Freshers Day as well – I’m really excited about all the possibilities for links with the Met in this coming term.

Great days…

Well it’s time to share some BIG news from Dock World with you all…

Yesterday Dock Cafe hosted a Press Launch for ‘Mission Titanic’, a new half-hour documentary which will be broadcast on UTV later this month.  It’s the culmination of months of filming, following, interviewing and editing by Patricia and her team from Tyrone Productions.

You might remember that they started being the Fly on the Dock Wall nearly a year ago, as we set off to view the Arctic Penguin as a possible boat for The Dock.  And now the changes, unexpected blessings, curveballs, disappointments and triumphs of the subsequent year have been beautifully shaped into half-an-hour of top-quality TV.

You’ll be hearing plenty more about it over the next week as the transmission date approaches.  But for now we have a confirmed date to put in your dairies and set on your Sky+ box NOW! – the Dockumentary will be broadcast on Sunday 30th September at 10:20pm (in the prime spot after Downton Abbey!)

I never cease to be amazed and humbled by the adventure that is Dock-World – and what a privilege to be able to share the adventure with Sunday-night TV watchers, as they tuck into their cups of cocoa and recover from the latest twists in the world of Downton… Exciting times!

(all photos courtesy of thebigwoodenbox.com)

What a stonkingly fabulous day to be Dock Walking – drinking in the sights and sounds of God’s great creation.  A few beauty shots of the TQ on this gorgeous afternoon:

I’m poised to tell you all about some VERY BIG NEWS of a film/TV-related nature – so to whet your appetite in the meantime, the cream of the crop of recent TQ-related videos to appear on Youtube.

First up, a taste of life at the bottom of the mighty Thompson Dock – and if you haven’t taken the tour to stand in the footsteps of Titanic’s builders at this hugely-evocative piece of history, for shame!  Do it soon!

 
Secondly, an excellent summary of the ‘story-so-far’ of Nomadic’s rebirth – and a reminder that we’re always looking for volunteers to go on board to oil the teak and play our small part in the restoration of this iconic little ship:

 

And finally, in honour of James Cameron’s recent visit to the TQ…  Don’t have 3 hours of your life to devote to the full Titanic movie in 3D Blu-Ray?  Fear not, just get the cheat notes with:

The Titanic Quarter is a celeb-spotter’s delight.  From royalty to rock stars, scarcely a day goes by without an illustrious face being spotted exploring the TQ.  And in Dock Cafe we get to meet Belfast Giants, rugby players, cast and crew of Game Of Thrones on a regular basis.  (We are, after all, the nearest place they can pick up a pint of milk).

Which of course means that there’s an unseemly race to see who can accrue the most celeb encounters. Proper encounters, mind you, not “Isn’t that…?” glimpses from a distance.  I thought I was doing well with my handshake with the Queen, but I think Colin Cobb (the Grand High Emperor of Titanic Walking Tours) has edged an early lead with his encounter with the King Of The World during his visit to the TQ last week.

I did get to glimpse him from afar at a reception beside the Grand Staircase (nice fuzzy long-distance pic on the right) but Colin got to bring him down into the Thompson Dry Dock for the ultimate ‘footsteps of Titanic’ experience (pics below).

You win this time, Cobb…