Titanic Experience, Belfast – Review

Holidays, Reviews

Some time in the summer of 2014, my two biggest kids developed a fascination with all things Titanic. I’m not quite sure why or how this came about, but for a couple of months it was question after question – was it really the biggest ship in the world? How many people drowned? How did the rest of them survive? Why didn’t someone see the iceberg? Why were they on a ship at all – aren’t planes loads quicker? Why didn’t someone just call 999 on their mobile phone?

Even the endless Minecraft videos were ditched in  favour of searching for Titanic related footage – once they had got over the shock that nobody had a smartphone to video its final moments they consoled themselves with reconstructions – this one, from the National Geographic, was their favourite. Until of course they happened across the inevitable Minecraft reimaginings of the story – I kid you not, there’s one right here, and plenty more where that came from!

Minecraft aside, I think this is the first time that my kids have shown more than a passing interest in any historical event, and this, along with the fact that I wanted to nip my eldest’s fear of flying in the bud, led me to book a trip to visit the Titanic Experience in Belfast. (This also meant that I got to spend a couple of days with my lovely friend but that is neither here nor there – oh no, it’s all about the kids, honest!)

I didn’t know what to expect from the exhibition at all, though I did vaguely wonder if there would be enough material around the fairly short life of the Titanic to keep the kids interested for a reasonable amount of time. In fact the opposite was true – there was plenty to keep us occupied and with hindsight I’d probably plan a slightly longer visit with a lunch break in the middle.

The Titanic Experience is structured around nine galleries, charting the story of the ship from ‘Boomtown Belfast’ right through to ‘Visit and Explore the Wreck’. Though the galleries all deal with different aspects of the story,  they are structured so that you’re not really aware of passing from one to another – rather, are you are drawn along the storyline, living the experience along with all those involved.

Though the kids were initially keen to get to the bit where the Titanic actually sank (obviously the disaster bit is the most exciting!) they were soon drawn in by the clever storytelling, and the brilliant presentation. Instead of simply reading about the life of children in Belfast at the turn of the century, they got to peer into windows:

Titanic Experience

 

Instead of just hearing morse code messages they got the chance to learn to transmit the CQT signal (the precursor to the more familiar SOS distress call):

 

…and rather than simply looking at structural plans of the ship they could dance in and out and through a constantly moving projection!

Titanic Experience

 

Best of all, those clever guys at the Titanic Experience had figured out that there is nothing like including an actual RIDE  in the middle of a museum to make it as much fun as possible for kids – so the Shipyard section of the story started with a trip up to the top of the replica of the huge Arrol Gantry, before entering pods which took us up close and personal with the noise, the heat and light and the sheer size of the project to put the Titanic together.

The excitement of the ship’s first launch followed, and there was a real sense of the pride that Belfast felt when this huge monster of a liner finally hit the water – empty and naked at this stage but a massive achievement nonetheless, with the glory and excitement shared by all from the Chief Engineer to the lowliest boiler boy.

At this point of the exhibition the ship begins to take on the characteristics we know so well – the huge funnels are added, the outside is painted in its distinctive colours and of course the insides are fitted out with the opulence of the First Class Quarters and ballroom contrasting strongly with the third class facilities; the kids loved seeing the cabins all made up exactly as they would have been. No less interesting to my number loving boy was the information about what was taken on board the Titanic – 40,000 eggs; 15,000 bottles of beer (‘Daddy would have been alright, then’) and even a couple of cars destined for New York!

The kids were beginning to flag a bit at this point and with hindsight I’d have planned for a break here. However the prospect of seeing the Titanic’s disastrous end perked them up, and so we followed the chain of events right up to the heartbreaking last messages:

Titanic Experience

 

And of course the sinking itself was brought to life brilliantly with a giant on screen depiction which the kids watched over and again. Even though it’s an old story, many times retold,  it was hard not to feel a real sense of loss for the ship and all the people whose stories were so inextricably linked – passengers, crew, engineers, labourers. This I this I think is the real marker of success for the Titanic Experience – it really does bring the story to life all around you.

The final three galleries dealt with the aftermath of the sinking, the inquiries on both sides of the Atlantic and the lessons learnt which influence maritime safety training to this day. There was also a fascinating section on how the media portrayed the tragedy, with stories of reporters doorstepping victims for the juiciest tales, and where no juiciness was forthcoming, making it up – plus ça change!! I would have liked to spend more time here but the kids were eagerly pulling me towards the final section, ‘Explore the Wreck’ and once I followed them I could see why – the chance to explore the wreck in life-size detail. My photos of this bit are truly awful so here’s one I pinched from the Titanic Experience website – as you can see the lighting is set to recreate the underwater gloom surrounding the wreck, it was quite a shock to emerge blinking into the light afterwards!

Titanic Experience

 

The fact that this review is turning into one of my longest ever posts will probably give you an idea of how much there is to say about the Titanic Experience – and there’s plenty from my scribbled notes that I have left out. If you’re wondering whether it’s worth a visit, I would say unreservedly YES – even if you’re not in the midst of a Titanic obsession like my kids, it’s a brilliant way to spend a day. As an added bonus, I have it on very good authority that Father Christmas himself is spending some time there over the next couple of weeks!

If you’d like more information on the Titanic Experience, including special events and family days, check out their website – and also Discover Northern Ireland will give you plenty more ideas for things to see and do in this beautiful part of the world. If you’ve already been lucky enough to visit, I’d love to hear what you thought in the comments below!

**Disclosure – we were given free entry into the Titanic Experience in exchange for an honest review of our visit**

Me and my pull-ups…

Doing my bit, Other Stories

I’ve come a long way in the seven years since I joined my fab gym. I can run, and more than the gasping 25 metres that I might have managed when I started.  I’m somewhere between reasonably fit and pretty fit. I can deadlift 10 kgs more than my body weight, and squat a bit more again. I’ve even got my my NVQ Level 2 in Gym Instruction! But can I do a pullup? Can I buggery. And this, dear reader, is a source of GREAT irritation to me.

photo

Here’s a picture of me completely failing to do a pull-up, helped by the very patient Joe, who is probably listening to me having a go at him for helping me because I can  do it myself you know, it’s not like I need your help,  OH MY GOD DON’T LET GO WHATEVER YOU DO! (Like I said, he’s very patient).

I’m not sure why I want to be able to do pull-ups quite so much. I think it’s probably to make up for being the only kid in primary school that couldn’t climb a rope or do the monkey bars (because it is totes logical, at 42, to still be bothered about this). It’s probably also something to do with the fact that because I know I can’t do it, that automatically presses the button in my brain that says ‘should be able to do it’. And I guess a little bit because you know what? It’d be kind of cool to just knock out a few pull-ups, just like that. Vain? Moi?

Anyways, this has now become something of a mission. I even one-clicked a pull up bar from Amazon when my sister and I were a teeny bit pissed tired the other night – not that I can put the damn thing up anywhere because apparently, the Husband has an objection to inadvertently slamming his forehead against unforeseen pull-up bars appearing in doorways – who knew?

But despite this setback, and after this beer, I am on the case and while I’m at it, I thought I might try and raise a few quid for the Disasters Emergency Committee who work wherever in the world they are needed, but right now are focussing efforts on the Ebola crisis.

So here’s the deal. On January 31st I will make an absolute muppet of myself and get someone to video the one and a half pull-ups I will probably be able to do by then. And if I’ve raised, say £100, I’ll share it on the blog. Can’t say fairer than that…now, dig deep, you KNOW you want to see me doing one and a half pull ups!

https://www.justgiving.com/Michelle-Davis6

 

My name’s Michelle and I work in Housing.

Wales, Work

Housing. Housing?

If you had told me even three years ago that I would end up not only working in Housing, but loving it, I would have laughed my little socks off. Despite the fact that I made a conscious decision some 12 years ago to leave the private sector – because I wanted to use my skills to ‘make a difference’ rather than just making some rich git richer – the idea of working in Housing never really crossed my radar. If you’d asked me why, I probably would have replied that the world of housing just didn’t excite me enough. The very word ‘housing’ conjured up visions of stuff that just didn’t float my boat. Property maintenance. Waiting lists. Rent collections. Tortuous public-sector admin processes. Evictions. I probably would have been hard pressed to come up with any other words to describe the work undertaken by housing associations.

Despite all this, I landed a job with my local housing association a couple of years ago. The job itself came about almost by accident – a misunderstood tweet, leading to my accidentally attending the first stage of a selection process, leading to my interest being piqued, leading to an application and – amazingly – a job offer. The job itself was a fixed term contract on a specific project, which made good use of my experience setting up and running small businesses; it was an amazing opportunity for my first foray back into the world of working for other people after seven years working for myself while my children were small. But still, I didn’t really identify myself as ‘working in Housing’. ‘Oh’, I would say, ‘I’m working on a project for my local Housing Association. Quite an exciting project actually, and not really housing related at all’.

How things change! Just over two years later, I am not only loud and proud about the fact that I work in Housing, but also constantly banging on to the world in general about what ‘Housing’ is REALLY about. It turns out that all the stuff I listed above is such a teeny tiny proportion of what Housing Associations actually do – to be honest I am pretty mortified that I got it so wrong for so many years. Though in my defence, I get the impression that traditionally, Housing Associations have not been very good at telling the world what they do either – and you know why that is? It’s because, generally speaking, we are FAR too busy doing AWESOME STUFF!

Some of the awesome stuff that is going on right here, right now?

  • A project that works intensively with local people who are removed from the jobs market – 24 people have gained employment so far this year – and guess what, we do this for free, no whacking great payments like those dished out to Serco and the like for managing the (hugely unsuccessful) Work Programme.
  • A project that collects unwanted smart work clothes, so jobseekers can have a tidy outfit to go to interviews in, putting them on a level playing field with other applicants.
  • A project that collects unwanted furniture destined for the tip, and upcycles it with the help of volunteers, so that people have a bed to sleep in – the people volunteering on this project will be able to use it as a stepping stone to employment.
  • A project working with young people to teach them about money management, and then train them to be able to teach their peers – ultimately a much more powerful medium for what can be seen as a boring and preachy message, however essential.
  • A project that supports building and maintenance contractors to create local jobs and training opportunities; and then supports those furthest from the labour market to apply for them, offering continuing support to both the candidate and the employer to ensure that the opportunities are sustained.
  • An allotment for tenants and local community members, where they can grow their own food, learning useful social and practical skills that can make a real difference to confidence levels – and offer another step down the road to employment.
  • A food co-op, using the buying power of a group to make fresh fruit, veg and eggs affordable and accessible to everyone, especially those on very low incomes.
  • Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programmes run for young people living in isolated estates where there are no facilities or opportunities to do anything at all, other than hang out at the bus shelter. These programmes give young people the chance to build their confidence, undertake a more active way of life, complete volunteering assignments – all of these things can and do make a real and tangible difference to their lives and prospects.
  • Numerous groups supported by Housing Associations but run by tenants, covering everything from ‘Knitters and Natters’ to ‘Computer Club’…for some people, participating in these groups can be the only time they have contact with other people, and for some, they are the very first step on a journey to developing the confidence to enter work or further training opportunities.

See? All that stuff, and not one mention of all the stuff that I thought Housing was all about. And that’s just a quick list taken from the three Housing Associations that I am involved with currently – there’s LOADS more stuff out there –  believe me I could go on, and on, except it would keep me from doing the AWESOME STUFF on my to do list right now. If you want to know more, get yourself over to #housingday on the Twitters, and prepare to have your preconceptions shattered – and in a good way!

So. There you go. My name’s Michelle and I work in Housing. And very proud I am too!