Today’s blog is brought to you courtesy of the excellent geniuses in the Apple Store – they took one brain-frozen Mac, one disconsolate, forlorn owner, replaced one little cable (its purposes known only to the Inner Sanctum of technorati) and…Voila!  I’m back, baby!

So… here we are.  It feels a little bit surreal.  The anniversary has finally arrived, the focus of months of preparation, so many ideas, plans, so much prep and sheer hard work… And now it’s arrived.  And we’re gonna do it right.

One striking word I keep hearing when asking people in the TQ “How are ya?” over the past few days.  Two weeks ago, everyone answered Excited! Pumped Up! It’s Our Time!… one week ago, most people answered Tired…Knackered…Is It All Over Yet?  This week, the word is: “Emotional”.

For those of us (and I hope you’ve found ways to join me) who have followed along this great story, this Titanic story, in drama, music, spectacle, image, song, poetry, story – the wonderful rollercoaster rush of events over these weeks – the moment where we commemorate that terrible crash has real power.  As well as events at the City Hall, St Anne’s Cathedral and the Drawing Offices over the weekend, I’m involved in a special vigil tomorrow night at Titanic Belfast where we will mark the 11:40pm anniversary of that fateful crash with a virtual choir, a reading of Titanic’s SOS messages and a reading-aloud of the names of those who were lost by lantern-light in the shadow of Titanic Belfast.  Not much makes me nervous these days, but I have butterflies in my stomach as we approach this.  Lips may wobble.  This city will truly, properly pay a profound and heartfelt tribute to that tragic moment which shook so many lives, echoed around the world and still resounds down through the decades.

So, one last time, one last diary (for now…!)  Again updated as more events keep emerging, these are your chances to connect with this story and join the city in a Titanic Commemoration to match and balance our Titanic Celebration of a week ago.  Both are important.  And both are being done in Belfast like nowhere else in the world.

Saturday 14th April
5:30pm and 11:40pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
6pm Titanic Memorial Lecture by Dr Robert Ballard at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8:30pm Titanic: A Commemoration in Music and Film at Waterfront Hall (& live on BBC2) – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
9pm Titanic Requiem at St Anne’s Cathedral – www.belfastcathedral.org
11pm ‘Water Night – A Titanic Vigil’ at Titanic Belfast –www.titanicbelfast.com
11:30pm ‘Titanic – Minute By Minute’ on BBC Radio 2
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Sunday 15th April
6:20am Live coverage of Titanic Centenary events on BBC2
9am Unveiling of Memorial Garden at City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11am Titanic Requiem at St Peter’s Cathedral – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11am ‘From Loch Ness to the North Atlantic’ – City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11:30am ‘Into The Deep’ at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
3pm ‘A Night To Remember’ on BBC2
3:30pm Titanic Commemoration Service and pilgrimage walk at St Anne’s Cathedral – www.belfastcathedral.org
4:10pm ‘Saving the Titanic’ on Channel 4
7:30pm ‘The Titanic Story’ at the Ulster Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic
8pm ‘Theatre Titanick’ at Titanic Belfast – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
9pm ‘Titanic’ (Julian Fellowes version) on UTV
10pm ‘Titanic: The Missing Link’ on UTV
11:15pm ‘Words of the Titanic’ on UTV
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

I just want to say this: there’s a phenomenal new visitor attraction in Belfast, a gleaming addition to the city’s skyline.  Standing underneath its soaring hulls, catching that glimpse of what it felt to be one of Titanic’s builders, is free as a bird.  Entering the foyer to admire the glorious architecture, the criss-crossing escalators, the huge metal wall, the giant compass… no charge.  There’ a gallery (the Thomas Andrews Gallery) with a permanent photography exhibition and a rolling programme of events and lectures, open to the public, pay not a penny.  The slipways – the fabulous, sensitive, evocative treatment of Titanic’s ‘Ground Zero’ which I raved about a few days ago – a free-to-access public park.  Over the past fortnight, there have been events ranging from the intimate and profoundly moving (like the Titanic Diaries series) to the epic and spectacular (like the Titanic Light show – have you seen this video of the highlights?); cost to you Sir? – £0.00.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were grateful?

A beautiful, moving experience at Titanic Belfast today.  As 11th April marks the centenary of Titanic’s last port of call to pick up passengers – at Queenstown (now Cobh) in County Cork – a special ‘Titanic Diary’ event drew together the stories of the descendants of those who boarded there.

And what incredible stories… I learnt of a small village in Co. Mayo, Addergoole, whose 96 inhabitants in 1912 led a hand-to-mouth existence, dreaming of the New World.  And in April 1912, 14 of them – a huge proportion of the tiny town – took their chance, spent their savings and travelled to Cobh to board the Ship of Dreams… After three days enjoying (even in Steerage class) the kind of luxury they had never experienced before, they stayed together during the panicked rush for the lifeboats on 14th April.  11 of them were lost that night, but the three who were rescued from the lifeboats and made it to New York started families, handed down the stories – and some of those descendants were present at the event today.

The telling of the story made every little detail count; every aspect was worth treasuring.  Did you know that Titanic’s passengers are the only immigrants ever to have entered the USA without passing through Ellis Island? – their paperwork was hastily completed on board Carpathia as it neared New York (and many of the female passengers used the opportunity to knock a few years off their age on the official documents!)  Did you know that in 1912, and most of the preceding half-decade, 3 times more money entered the Irish economy through ‘remittances’ – money sent home to family members from the USA – than through home-grown industry?  Can you imagine what it was like for the present-day family members of those 3 survivors, who only heard the stories for the first time as the survivors reached the end of their lives – the preceding decades having been spent (as with so many of those who were connected to the Titanic) in silence and shame?

Lump-in-throat time, a huge privilege to be there.  Yet another new angle on the old story, a new perspective which uncovers yet more human stories of boundless interest.  More history which illuminates and inspires the present and the future.  Well worth checking out this trailer of the documentary telling the Addergoole story:

Two blogs in one day, goodness!  There’s just so much happening…

For example, we’ve added more local singer-songwriters to the Acoustic Lunchtimes list in Dock Cafe – so as it stands at the minute it looks as if we’ll be serenaded every lunchtime this week from 12-2!  It adds such a great vibe to the cafe – so for those of you who haven’t visited yet, make a beeline to the TQ and call into the coolest cafe/chillout space/art display/pop-up-industrial-chic space ever!

Another exciting opportunity coming up this weekend – kinda related to my wafflings about the spiritual aspect of the whole Titanic story and the spaces around the TQ (especially the slipways) – The Dock has the immense privilege of being asked to resource a Prayer Room at various stages this coming weekend to allow people to talk, pray and seek peace during the Titanic commemorations, which are sure to bring emotions to the surface for many people.  If you’re interested in being part of that resource, please let me know through the Contact form on the website.

Opportunities for prayer, for fellowship, for music, for community… it just doesn’t get better than this does it?!  To finish off with today, a quick iPhone snap of a glorious vista in the TQ this afternoon, which kinda says it all – hope in Belfast anyone…?!

I’ve got a new favourite spot in the Titanic Quarter.  And it’s got some pretty heavy competition, so you know it’s got to be something really special…

It’s the area at the base of Titanic Belfast now called ‘Slipway Park’ – the very ground where Titanic and Olympic were hammered together under the Arrol Gantries 100 years ago.  Miraculously, many of the features of that time have managed to survive the century pretty-much unscathed – it’s always one of my favourite parts of a Titanic Walking Tour when the walkers gradually realise that those metal tracks on the ground, those scaffolding foundations, the bollard over there, the ramps we’re walking beside… surely not… hang on… but in that picture of Titanic under construction… can it be that we’re walking on exactly the same spot?

It sure can – and as part of the redevelopment of the area, Titanic Belfast’s builders have done a beautiful job of preserving and interpreting the traces of history in the ground.  Really, truly, words can’t express how well it’s been done – you have to see it for yourself.  Don’t get me wrong, I love the Titanic Belfast Building, and all that lies within it – but the slipways are something special.  The old coal-cart tracks still criss-cross the century-old tarmac; the ramps at the heads of the slipways still stand at exactly the angle needed to launch 882-feet of riveted metal into the lough; the foundations of the soaring gantries can be traced in the ground; even the bollard at the water’s edge, visible in one of the most famous photographs of Titanic’s launch, has been perfectly preserved.  (Come on a Dock Walk and I’ll show you where!)

And the work that’s been done to illuminate and interpret the space – lightposts in the places where the gantry legs once stood; an outline of Titanic and Olympic (lit vivid blue at night); a satellite-view of Titanic’s short journey mapped out in lights on the ground; stonework mapping out the schematics of lifeboats, deckhouses and funnels along the length of the ship; areas of grass and decking sized in direct proportion to those lost and saved on Titanic; names etched into glass at the head of the slipways… It is stunning.  At some stage I’ll load more photos of it all to the blog, but it’s no substitute for seeing it all yourself.

And here’s the best thing of all – the slipways are a spiritual place.  By the very nature of what happened there (and what happened next), they provoke a pause for thought.  Even in the week-and-a-bit they’ve been open to the public, it’s not unusual to see people using the area for quiet reflection, space, prayer.  At the conclusion of the Yardmen walk last Sunday, the Belfast Community Gospel Choir filled the slipways with worship music in glorious harmony, and I’ve never seen a space that suited that sound so well.  (And I’ve seen BCGC perform in a church!)  They have the atmosphere of somewhere that could be a place of pilgrimage – even if that pilgrimage is just to walk the length of the ships, lost in thought.

Now I don’t want to over-egg things – after all, we already know that the slipways are also a public park – I’ve seen them used for vintage car rallies, motorbike displays, a balloon release and much more – and an awesome venue for spectacular open-air events like the light-show last Saturday or the MTV concert this Friday  (Although I’ve got to admit – and I’ll be very happy to be proved wrong – that using the space for an MTV bash just 24 hours before the commemoration of the disaster just strikes slightly the wrong note with me…)  Certainly I can’t think of a more awe-inspiring backdrop for the incredible display on Saturday night (and incidentally, was anyone else struck by the thought that as we all streamed home after the event, the Queens Road was filled with thousands of people walking towards home for the first time in decades?)
 But I love the sense that the slipways are something more.  A bit like Dock Cafe, could they be an expression of a new kind of church, a new kind of spiritual space, in the Titanic Quarter.  There aren’t any church buildings yet.  There isn’t even a boat.  But in conversations around the sofas and tables of Dock Cafe, in moments of prayer and meditation on the slipways, on Dock Walks, in choirs on the slipway, in the profoundly moving hopeful-yet-sorrowful-yet-joyful-yet-beautiful mixture of emotions and experiences in this incredible place, God is working.  And it utterly, completely, fills me with joy.

A much-appreciated rest for all the Dock gang today, before another HHUUUGGEEEE week of all things Titanic.  So, to get into gear, a bit of advance notice of some things coming up over the next few days:

First up, of course Dock Cafe is open for business – Tue-Fri 11-7, Sat 11-5 – and Tegan the Dock Barista will be full of rage (which is quite a scary sight to see) if I don’t mention the great line-up of acoustic lunchtimes we’ve got coming up this week (12-2 Tues, Thur & Fri).  Local musicians playing some chilled-out tunes while you sip local tea and coffee, munch on locally-baked delicacies and admire the (ever-increasing) range of local art and craft we have displayed around the cafe… honestly, where else would you want to be?!

This week many of the events and programmes in the Titanic Quarter have a very different tone.  You’ll already have noticed in the news that passengers have boarded the memorial cruise which will retrace Titanic’s footsteps, and the TV schedules are starting to fill with a massive range of programmes looking at the echoes of that terrible night on the Atlantic.  Next weekend sees the centenary of Titanic’s fateful collision with the iceberg – the crash at 11:40pm on 14th, and the sinking just over two-and-a-half hours later at 2:20am on the 15th.

It’s a tired old complaint frequently lobbed at us in Belfast that we shouldn’t be celebrating a tragedy.  Well, of course we’re not.  Even as the preparations unfold for the events next weekend, it’s clear just how deep the wound still cuts here in Titanic’s birthplace, and the tone of the events will reflect that.

We are unique in the world in that we can celebrate aspects of Titanic – the craftsmanship, vision, risk, daring and sheer hard work that went into her creation – these are Belfast stories, and I genuinely don’t think there was any way they could have been better told than through the fabulous rush of events around the opening of Titanic Belfast and the centenary of Titanic’s departure from Belfast Lough.  But equally, we’re one of the best placed to tell the story of her loss – and from what I’ve already seen of the plans for this coming weekend, we’re going to do that story full justice too.  We led the world in celebrating her launch – and I think we’re going to lead again in remembering her loss.

So again, I’m going to encourage you to fill your diaries – don’t be an armchair spectator of this phenomenal week.  Give something new a try – a play, a concert, a film, a lecture – find new angles and beats in this story we’re coming to know so well.  Over this last week, if it’s been on, I’ve given it a go – films (an open-air Night to Remember), plays (the superb The Boat Factory), spectacles (the fantastic lightshow on Saturday night)… A few nights ago, a gang from the Dock were privileged to be part of a preview evening for ‘Titans’, a new play showing at Titanic Belfast this week – an absolutely unique production, in which the audience, rather than observing passively, were part of the action, following the characters through the staircases, galleries and hidden corners of the Drawing Office and Titanic Belfast as the plot unfolded.  Something absolutely unique.

This week I’ll be highlighting different things each day that will allow you to take part – including some really special opportunities for those of us in The Dock – but for now, I’ll reprint the (now thoroughly updated!) grand masterplan of all the upcoming events.  Have a good scan through, get your diary out, check out the website links – and if you can’t find anything in here to whet your interest, then there really is no hope for you…!

Tuesday 10th April
11am and 2pm – ‘Titanic Diaries – Cherbourg’ at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
12noon – 2pm – Acoustic lunchtimes at Dock Cafe – www.the-dock.org
12:30 & 3:30pm – Titanic Discovery Series at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
1pm ‘Titanic Miscellany’ at the City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
7:30pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
8pm ‘Songs to the Siren’ at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8:30pm Titanic Light Show installation at Titanic Slipways – www.titanicbelfast.com
9pm ‘Titanic: the Band Played On’ on TV
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Wednesday 11th April
11am and 2pm – ‘Titanic Diaries – Cobh’ at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
 12noon – 2pm – Acoustic lunchtimes at Dock Cafe – www.the-dock.org
7:15pm ‘Titans’ at the Drawing Office – www.titanicbelfast.com
7:30pm ‘The Wireless Room’ at the City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
7:30pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8:30pm Titanic Light Show installation at Titanic Slipways – www.titanicbelfast.com
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Thursday 12th April
12noon – 2pm – Acoustic lunchtimes at Dock Cafe – www.the-dock.org
6pm  Creative Arts Festival at Public Records Office – www.proni.gov.uk
7:30pm ‘The Wireless Room’ at the City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
7:30pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
‘Titanic 3D in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Friday 13th April
12noon – 2:00 – Acoustic lunchtimes at Dock Cafe – www.the-dock.org
7:30pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
7:30pm ‘The Wireless Room’ at the City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8:30pm MTV Titanic Sounds at Titanic Slipways – www.titanicbelfast.com
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Saturday 14th April
5:30pm and 11:40pm ‘Titanic the Musical’ at the Grand Opera House – www.goh.co.uk
6pm Titanic Memorial Lecture by Dr Robert Ballard at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
8pm ‘White Star of the North’ at Lyric Theatre – www.lyrictheatre.co.uk
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8:30pm Titanic Centenary Commemoration at Waterfront Hall (& live on BBC2) – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
9pm Titanic Requiem at St Anne’s Cathedral – www.belfastcathedral.org
11pm ‘Water Night – A Titanic Vigil’ at Titanic Belfast –www.titanicbelfast.com
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Sunday 15th April
9am Unveiling of Memorial Garden at City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11am Titanic Requiem at St Peter’s Cathedral – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11am ‘From Loch Ness to the North Atlantic’ – City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
11:30am ‘Into The Deep’ at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
3:30pm Titanic Commemoration Service and pilgrimage walk at St Anne’s Cathedral – www.belfastcathedral.org
7:30pm ‘The Titanic Story’ at the Ulster Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8pm ‘Theatre Titanick’ at Titanic Belfast – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
8pm ‘A Better Boy – Thomas Andrews, Shipwright’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
9pm ‘Titanic’ (Julian Fellowes version) on ITV
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
SS Nomadic open for hard-hat tours – www.nomadicbelfast.com

Monday 16th April
7pm ‘Belfast Shipbuilders’ – City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Tuesday 17th April
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Wednesday 18th April
7pm ‘Father Browne’s Album’ – City Hall – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Thursday 19th April
6pm ‘Last Night of a Small Town’ at the Linen Hall Library – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
6:30pm ‘Titanic – Belfast’s Own’ at Public records Office – www.proni.gov.uk
7:30pm ‘The Iceberg’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Friday 20th April
7pm ‘The Man Who Left The Titanic’ at the Linen Hall Library – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
7:30pm ‘The Iceberg’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Saturday 21st April
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide

Sunday 22nd April
1pm ‘Sisters to an Icon’ at the Belfast Barge – www.belfastcity.gov.uk/titanic/
1:30pm TQ 10K at Queens Road – www.athleticsni.org
3:33pm Dock Walk – starting at Dock cafe
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Monday 23rd April
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Tuesday 24th April
1pm ‘All At Sea – Maritime Records’ at the Public Records Office – www.proni.gov.uk
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Wednesday 25th April
Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Thursday 26th April
‘Titanic 3D’ in cinemas nationwide
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Friday 27th April
‘Go’ awards at Titanic Belfast – www.titanicbelfast.com
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Saturday 28th April
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC

Sunday 29th April
3:33pm Dock Walk – starting at Dock cafe
‘Titanic – Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioners’ Inquiry 1912’ at the MAC