LATEST UPDATE 27th June 2021

We are on our summer break - we will be back in Sept on Monday 13th at 7pm to hear Mark Chirnside's talk cohosted by the Society and the Public Record Office for Northern Ireland 

Have a great summer.

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Archive

We have a tour of Belfast's Sailortown (from the Big Fish to St Joseph's Church) coming up on 14th June 2021 - more details to follow

 

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ARCHIVE.....TITANIC TOGETHER 2021 purchase a ticket for a small fee here

Events to mark the 109th anniversary of the loss of RMS Titanic.  This year in line with Government Covid-19 restrictions our talks will be on line. Access will be via eventbrite - members do not need to book into these events. 

Monday 12th April 2021 7pm (BST) 'Pirrie Family Stories' by Catherine Charley

Thursday 15th 109th Titanic Commemoration - Laying of wreaths by Belfast's Lord Mayor and President of Belfast Titanic Society at Belfast City Hall (Titanic Memorial Gardens) - video LINK will be posted here (the short ceremony is private under strict Covid-19 guidelines). 

Friday 16th April 7pm (BST) '#THATSWASTHEDAY' recollection of events from 109 years ago the day after the tragedy using the newspaper headlines and stories of the day.

Thursday 22nd April 7pm (BST) 'YS IDALIA – THE ‘BABY’ YACHT BUILT BY H&W' Mark Doherty

Saturday 24th April 3pm (BST) Exploring the martime collection of Mary Steinberg

Look out for Titanic Belfast's social media posts for their annual online commemorative event A NIGHT TO REMEMBER featuring Society President, Susie Millar, and Society Memeber, Sheryl Rinkol. wwww.titanicbelfast.com

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2020/2021 - ONLINE TALKS /EVENTS PLANNER 

 

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ARCHIVE POSTS

Some comments from our September talk and Mark Chirnsides talk  :

 

• Thank you for the presentation - all the way from the “fire capital of the worldâ€� - Los Angeles !!
• Excellent presentation Mark, as always!. Can I ask about the Olympic/Hawke collision and the compulsory pilotage. From the conversation with Smith, it appears that Bowyer was responding to information from Smith, and so while blame could be aimed at Bowyer, perhaps he was at the mercy what Smith was communicating to him?  Do you have any thoughts on the conversation?
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• Thank you very much really interesting talk.  my great grandfather was shipwrights on Olympic
• I enjoyed the lecture, very interesting
• Thank you for your very interesting talk, excellent
• Thanks very good event
• Thanks Mark for a great talk and looking forwards to the next on-line meeting. This is wonderful and it is great to see everyone again!

 

 October talk 

Maureen McKinney, BTTS ‘Tracing Relatives from the Belfast Shipyards’ and Stephen Scarth, PRONI ‘Maritime Treasures of PRONI’ - thanks to everyone who tuned in and thanks for all your questions and comments

 

TRACING RELATIVES TALK (by Maureen McKinney) RESOURCES (word format)

RECOMMENDED READING

RECOMMENDED SOURCES

 

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WORKMAN CLARK TALK BY MAUREEN MCKINNEY - RESOURCE FILE (PDF FORMAT) CLICK HERE 

 

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Greetings

As we start the autumn 2020 part of our annual programme life for all of us all, no matter where we are is dominated by Covid19 and the restrictions it has brought to world.  In order to provide the safest experience for our members, we are providinga fully online talks programme. We are very excited to bring you the talks that were cancelled by the pandemic in the Spring. No spoilers but we will hear about the first passenger to board Titanic, see and hear how the Titanic replica in China is progressing, hear stories about the Pirrie family, learn about martime and shipyard records and hear about a Belfast Titanic mystery - now solved!  We thank all our speakers in anticipation and hope you will be able to join us online. Please look out for details, published here on our website, of access to the talks from October right through to June 2021. 

 

The challenge of moving to a virtual/ online talks programme does bring with it exciting opportunities to engage with members who would not have been able to attend our monthly meetings before with a lot of our members being resident in distant places. 

 

As always if you have a talk your would like to offer remotely or want to hear a particular topic covered please let us know and we will see what we can do!

We are providing access to all our talks FREE to Society members. Non members may acess any of our monthly meetings/ talks online using the Society registration page on eventbrite please search for 'eventbrite belfast titanic society' 

 

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CQD MAGAZINE

We hope to have the first of the two magazines for the 2020-2021 membership year ready to issue in the autumn under our new editor Mark Doherty. Going forward there will be two magazines annually and this allows us to remain within the membership income envelop.  Issue 63 will bring us some exciting new research from Belfast. If you wish to make a contriibution contact our Editor Mark using editor@belfast-titanic.com

 

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MEMBERSHIP

We welcome membership from anyone interested in the Titanic story - it is an enduring story and crosses all boundaries. On 15th April last our annual membership renewed - and a big thank you to all who successfully renewed and paid their fee - most members are now using a digital means to pay which is helpful going forward as it reduces administration time andcostly banking fees. Anyone still to pay can click HERE for more details of how to get their payment to us.  

 

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#TITANICCONVENTION2022 

We are also working to establish a BELFAST TITANIC INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION in April 2022 to coincide with the 110th Anniversary of: the launch, the leaving of Belfast (watch HERE), the maiden voyage and the loss of RMS Titanic #titanic110. We have provisionally set the date for this Convention for Thursday 14th April followed the next day on Friday 15th April by the annual commemoration event at Belfast City Hall. We hope to have an informal gathering the night before the convention on Wednesday 13th April.  Venues are yet to be announced. These dates do conicide with Easter week 2021.  We are delighted to say this anniversary coincides with the Society's 30th Anniversary - we were founded in 1992.

More news on this and other events for 2020/21 will be announced here, on our website homepage as well as on our social media pages on Facebook @BelfastTitancSociety and Twitter @belfast_titanic.

 

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In meantime where ever you are please stay safe as we all continue to live through this global pandemic.

 

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#OPENFORBUSINESS

#TITANICTOGETHER

#TITANIC

#TITANIC120

#TITANIC2022

 

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April 2020

From the Belfast Titanic Society Leadership Team

THE 108th ANNIVERSARY OF THE LOSS OF RMS TITANIC

Marking this day, a day in history, with the Belfast Titanic Society, from home

“...If we love still those we lose, can we altogether lose those we love?...� (Thackeray)

 

As we each mark the loss of RMS Titanic on Wednesday 15 April 1912 - safely from our own homes around the world - we remember that it was on this day 108 years ago, during the early hours of the morning, in pitch black of night, that the hopes and aspirations of many hundreds were dashed against a towering iceberg.

 

Today in our own difficult times, and as our thoughts turn to the the Titanic tragedy, we in the Belfast Titanic Society are proud and privileged to remember the loss with our friends, colleagues and partners at Belfast City Council. And we pay tribute to the work that went on behind the scenes this year, preparing for the event at City Hall, in the days leading up to the nationwide call to stay at home to help our NHS and help save lives.

This is the first year in recent times that there hasnt been an event at the memorial gardens at City Hall.  And no doubt our camaraderie at the event and inside City Hall afterwards will be sadly missed by all...but we encourage you, where ever you are, to mark the time, normally at midday, when we gather at the Titanic Memorial Gardens at City Hall, to remember not only our own Belfast men who were lost ....but everyone who died.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the unveiling (on 26 June 1920) of the Titanic Memorial Monument - the last work of Sir Thomas Brock.

 

Speaking at the unveiling, just outside the grounds of Belfast City Hall in Donegall Square East, Lord French, Viceroy of Ireland, quoted Thackeray, “If we love still those we lose, can we altogether lose those we love?â€�  These words remains as true today in our current Covid19 crisis across the world as when those words were spoken by Lord French. He summed up well how it feels to lose someone we love under tragic circumstances, a truely heartfelt message across the world then and now. 

 

The centrepiece for remembrance in Belfast remains our Titanic Memorial Gardens, dominated by the impressive bronze plinth, opened in 2012, with its ‘Belfast List’, a comprehensive account of all Titanic’s passengers and crew as well as our 'Guarantee Group' from H&W, who were lost.

Thank you for taking time out today to think about the lives of people associated with the Titanic tragedy and for participating in an act of remembrance, albeit remotely from your own home.

If you want to add to tributes on social media on twitter, facebook or instagram, these are most welcome using #titanic108 #titanic and #titanictogether and if you want to add @belfast-titanic we will reTweet and repost.

 

Thank you and stay safe, as always.

 

Dr Aidan McMichael

Co-Chairman Belfast Titanic Society

 

 

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MARCH 2020

ARCHIVE INFORMATION - IMPORTANT INFORMATION 

COVID19 UPDATE

We regret to annouce that all further events and meetings planned for the 2019/2020 season are now cancelled - these include :

• 15th April Memorial Service at City Hall
• AGM meeting and 'Talk' in May at RBAI
• All 'Titanic Together' events/talks and tours planned for April 2020
• Proni talks and tours
• Titanic Belfast 'Out of Stores' exhibition

On bealf of the Society we very much appreciate the support you have given to the Society this past year and we hope to see you all again as soon as possible.  For now don't hesitate to get in touch with us with any 'Titanic' related stories you might have and we can share those on social media or on our webpages. 

We do hope to get an issue of CQD magazine out soon but this will be very much dependant on Covid19 developments and we will update you on the issue of the magazine when we can.  We will bring you news of a postponed AGM meeting as soon as the future is clearer for event planning.

Please remember on 15th April we will not be at the Titanic Memorial Gardens for the usual memorial service at Belfast City Hall so you can channel your own thoughts over that anniversary day where ever you are in the world! 

The 15th April also sees the renewal of annual membershps and there are bank account and paypal details on the membership page of this website.

Due to increased costs around publication of the Society full colour magazine and postage charges we will change from three issues with annual membership to two issues with annual membership per year.  We very much appreciate the continued support from members and the good feedback we have had in the last few years about the material covered in our magazine - we have a new Editor at the helm (Mark Doherty) of the magazine who no doubt will put his own slant on things - and he is also very much open to new material.  Anyone wishing to submit material should so do by emailing your document to  info@belfast-titanic.com  FAO CQD Editor (see more detal on submissions in past magazines or on our CQD webpages.

THE BELFAST LIST 

Click here for a pdf copy

WHATS ON 2020-2021 

All our talks and tours will be online for the 2020-2021 season

2020/2021 - ONLINE TALKS /EVENTS PLANNER
(pdf file format - opens in new window) DOWNLOAD

2020/2021 - ANNUAL TALKS /EVENTS PLANNER
(Word format - opens as a downloaded word file) DOWNLOAD

 

Archive

2019/2020 - ANNUAL TALKS /EVENTS PLANNER DOWNLOAD