…because at The Dock we believe that it’s a good and Godly thing to find space in our lives to chill out!

Hope you all get the chance to find some space over these sunny (?!) Summer days – look forward to catching up again when we re-open next week!

It’s exactly 15 years today since this photo was taken – since Susan had the supreme courage and fortitude to say “I do” and become Mrs Bennett.  And while we don’t exactly feel like an ould married couple just yet, it’s amazing to think how much has changed since the confetti flew that day back in ’97.

The story behind our happy wedding snaps is that all the guests were there that day by the skin of their teeth: the previous day the storm of the Drumcree conflict had suddenly broken, and roads everywhere were blocked with burning cars.  Lots of our guests who had travelled from outside Belfast had to leave before nightfall to be sure of getting home safely (at least, they said that was their excuse…)  And our departure the following morning, in our beloved self-converted big red campervan, had to be suddenly switched to the crack-of-dawn ferry, as police were advising drivers of larger vehicles to stay off the roads as they presented more enticing targets for roadblocks… The thought of all our months of hard work on that van ending up burning in the middle of the road kept us awake all night!

Do you remember when this kind of thing was our daily reality?  Fifteen years ago – not exactly ancient history.  Today I’m profoundly grateful for fifteen amazing years of marriage – and also for the undreamt-of transformation of our daily lives here in NI.

The Dock has made it to the front page at last – but after all my publicity-grabbing antics, it’s Tegan who made it to the cover – grrrr…

LOTS going on at the Titanic Quarter this weekend… (just for a change eh?!)

Tonight at we’re hosting Fashion Footlights – an evening of food, fashion and chat – at Dock Cafe.  If you’re wondering why I’m telling you about it in the present tense, it’s because it’s HAPPENING NOW and I can blog about it using Dock Cafe’s new free wifi!  Hurrah!

So, hot off the press, a few pics from tonight:

 

And tomorrow night, hope you got your tickets (they were snapped up in a flash): Land of Giants is coming…  the most intriguing description I’ve heard is ‘Cirque du Soleil on the Titanic Slipways’!   Judging from the setup and rehearsals I’ve glimpsed over the past week it’s certainly going to be spectacular; I’ll be there as your trusty correspondent as always!

To whet your appetite (if you got a ticket) or make you go “oh man, I can’t believe I’m going to miss that!” (if you didn’t), check this out:

An historic handshake happened today!  At a line-up in Titanic Belfast, during a swanky lunch hosted in honour of the Jubilee, I got to shake hands with the Queen!

(Oh, and apparently someone called Martin shook her hand today too.)

It actually, genuinely was a great honour to be in the “handshake queue” along with many of the great people from the world of Titanic Quarter.  And, I’ve to tell ya, it’s actually very nerve-wracking!  As this tiny figure in apple green approaches, you go through your mental inventory of correct forms of address, things not to say, things you should say…  Until eventually my moment arrived, and I gabbled something incoherent about the chance for the churches to work together in the Titanic Quarter.  To which HM the Q gave her verdict: “That’s a lovely idea!”

Just in case that got me feeling too cocky, a few minutes later I had the same moment with Prince Philip – who responded to my babbled one-line description of the vision of The Dock by moving wordlessly on the next person in the queue!  (respect!)

So – to compensate for the lack of pictures with this post (I was a good obedient boy and kept my phone & camera switched off for the whole event, as ordered on the invite!), I hereby present the new version of the Dock logo complete with Royal Seal Of Approval:

And, in the interests of balance:

I’m off to put up my feet now – I’m knackered!  And I was only at a small part of the day of activities – how do the royals do it?!  Great respect and love to them from The Dock – and what a fantastic, hopeful day for Northern Ireland as we provided a Good News headline which echoed around the world.

***EDIT FROM YEARS LATER:

Fantastically, although I was obviously unaware of it at the time, someone did manage to snap a pic of this Historic Encounter as it happened:

and after a hard-fought battle to come up with the best caption for it, we went with: