titanic event

The liner never visited Liverpool in its lifetime - a delay apparently meant it had to go straight from its birthplace in Belfast to the south coast, but it was ordered and owned by the city’s great White Star Line.
Many of the crew were Merseysiders, particularly the engineers, and of course we have the memorial to their bravery on the Pier Head close to the Liver Building.
And the story of the Titanic has always had a strange fascination for a lot of people. Organisers say there are delegates coming to the Adelphi from mainland Europe, America and even Australia.
There must be many people out there who have some sort of link with the ship, and they include me.
When I was growing up I was always very proud that we had a piece of the Titanic at home - although admittedly it had never been to the bottom of the Atlantic.
My great-grandfather was a ship’s turner at Harland and Wolff in Belfast at the turn of the last century and he worked on the Titanic.
Family legend has it that he made a poker from off cuts of metals being used to create the great liner.
That poker is still owned by the family today and it feels strange to know something so ordinary is also a unique part of history.
Anyway, I hope delegates to this weekend’s convention enjoy their visit (despite the wet weather predicted and the proliferation of roadworks which make it like a assault course getting to the waterfront) and it would be nice to tempt them back again for 2007 and particularly 2008.