Yep – we’ll be seeing some great sights from Dock Cafe ‘s window these next few weeks…

Having a deadline worked out well for us in getting the basics of Dock Cafe up and running in time for Eamonn, so we’ve given ourselves another one! Next Thursday at 3pm is when Dock Cafe will open its doors. There are a few trifling little matters to sort before then, like having running water – but we’ll do it!

But I want to invite all you people of The Dock to get involved in more than just the grand opening. Dock Cafe isn’t just a one-off next Thursday; it’s a daily space for friendship, conversation, coffee, questioning, relaxing, connecting… It will be open 11-7 Tue-Fri and 11-5 Sat; the kettle will always be on; the local art, local music and local creativity will always be on display.

So make it your local! Call in for a coffee, or a chat, or just to read the paper and enjoy a bit of space.

We’ve been asking some local people (especially the ones supplying our tea, coffee, bakes, artwork etc) to provide a few quotes to display around the room – and Cupar Pilson, whose art will be on display in the unit, summed it up perfectly:

In our busy lives sometimes we must stop, relax, and enjoy two simple pleasures…looking at interesting art with a cup of good coffee!

Six days.  An empty shop unit.  A Meanwhile Lease.  A vision for a pop-up cafe, a warm, friendly, beautiful community hub for this epic year in Titanic Quarter.  And the deadline of a Songs Of Praise film crew, arriving to film some of their links and cutaway shots in a Dock Cafe that didn’t exist yet.

But our hearts did not fail or quaver: we knew who was waiting at the finish line..  He deserved our best efforts, our bravest attempt, our most courageous race to the end.  We would…

What a phenomenal couple of days… the excitement of getting Dock Cafe up and running has been one of the greatest joys of the whole Dock project so far.  I’m just home from dropping off some more furniture at the cafe, and even at night-time, with the city lights gleaming through the windows, it looks awesome.

For those of you waiting for your inaugural cuppa, pencil 3pm on Thursday 8th March in your diaries – that’s the provisional date we’re aiming towards for the grand opening.

In the meantime, keep your eye on Jeremy’s Flickr photostream – Jeremy is the design genius who created the Dock logo and website (and the exterior signage for Dock Cafe) – and he’s got some lovely photos online of the progress of Dock Cafe as it all comes together…

And keep your eyes peeled here on the Dock Blog as well – I got some fantastic video footage of Dock Cafe’s ‘practise run’ on Sunday, with Eamonn Holmes and the BBC Songs of Praise film crew in attendance.  It will appear on here soon – but for now, sleepy-byes await – who knew that being a Chaplain would involve so much furniture-moving!

Eamonn Holmes – legend.

…more to follow soon!