President of Ireland this morning

Well it's not every morning you wake up and are invited to go and see the President of Ireland at the dockers club in North Belfast. But this morning was just such a morning she was there to see the SHIP project. The dockside friendships building a shared future on past memories Exhibition.

The project came about from an acknowledgement that many of the older dockers belonging to the club had fantastic stories to tell but slowly as they died their stories were dying with them. So the dockers club decided to collect the stories and build an exhibition and a series of books. Strange going into the club, the curtains were drawnn the lights were on, it was hard to remember that it was 10.30 in the morning. Lots of people were gathered to listen to the President but before she came. The compare started to identify people in the crowd and ask for a round of applause for them. It was getting so that I thought he was ging to name everyone individually. YOu could tell he was used to the job and at any moment I thought he was going to burst into song(that came later). The president came in with her husband and at once started to walk around the crowd and I got my third presidential handshake. One for Clinton, one for Mary Robinson now Mary McAleese. Quick on her heals was her husband who smiled and shoke hands as well.

Liam Quinn the chairman of the project spoke highly of the president and the background to the project before the President herself spoke, she talked about her memories of the dockers from her expereince of being brought up in Ardoyne and her friends who fathers worked in the docks. She spoke of the ability of the club to leave politics at the door for the last 30 years and it's ability to survive because of it and she spoke of the importance of keeping the memories alive of the previous generations.
After a presentation and a song off (she didnt sing it was a dockers song)she went in the ministerial cars to the Colloden
for some talks. As I said my thanks and goodbyes I walked around to where I'd parked my car and noticed that the ministerial cars had been blocked by a Belfast City Council refuse collection lorry. Always something to delay things in Northern Ireland is'nt there ?? Some blockage or other getting in peoples way. But things are changing you could here it in the jokes in the club. The compare introduced one man by saying this is the man that arrested me once...............but thats so long ago. Maybe the time of whatever you say say nothing is over??