Category: Northern Ireland; Children in Need
Date: 14.11.2005
Printable version
This summer Â鶹Éç Newsline correspondent Mike McKimm dived to the wreck of the Titanic to place a plaque on behalf of Belfast in memory of those who died in the 1912 disaster - and as a result Â鶹Éç Children in Need will be better off.
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Mike is offering three lucky people the chance to own a very special cup and accompanying baseball cap.
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He explains: "Standing on the deck of the Russian mother ship, Keldysh, while the crew prepared the Mir submersible for my dive down two and a half miles to Titanic in August, guilt suddenly struck. A lot of people had put in a lot of time and effort, just for me.
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"Suddenly it dawned on me, how to make the most of the unique event that was about to unfold. Do something for Â鶹Éç Children in Need.
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"Hurriedly some polystyrene cups were drawn on and, after a bit of begging from fellow travellers, three baseball caps were produced. Not of any great value as yet, but just wait.
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"When I returned later in the day, I had the only three baseball caps that had been down to Titanic, all the way to the bottom of the Atlantic.
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"There are special certificates on Harland and Wolff notepaper to prove that. Even that note paper had been taken all the way down to the wreck."
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Mike continued: "Then there were the polystyrene cups, put in small net bags outside the Mir, which were slowly crushed by the massive pressure as we sank 12,850 feet to the seabed.
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"Billions of tons of water producing six thousand pounds per square inch did its work. The cups were squeezed from all sides until they became perfect tiny replicas of themselves - unique and rare as proverbial hen's teeth.
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"And a warning of what was in store if anything went wrong with Mir. Although it's unlikely I would have come back small but perfectly formed in such a mishap.
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"I have to admit that having been in the water at the bottom of the Atlantic bathed in the rust and debris that every day washed from Titanic, the cups are very special to me.
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"Soon they will be someone else's to stare and marvel at. And somewhere children will be a lot better off. Not bad for a last minute idea.
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"Get your small Titanic cups here, not available in the shops, get your cups here..."
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The three Titanic cups and baseball caps will be put up for auction from today, Monday 14 November.
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To be in with a chance of getting one of these truly unique cups and an accompanying cap tune into the George Jones show on Â鶹Éç Radio Ulster from 3.00 to 5.00pm each day from today to Friday (18 November) and bid by calling 08459 555 687.
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Listeners outside Northern Ireland can access the programme via digital satellite channel 868 or bbc.co.uk/northernireland.
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Alternatively log on to the Great Big Bid website - bbc.co.uk/greatbigbid - where the remaining two cups and caps will be up for auction all week.
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Each of the cups and baseball caps comes with a certificate on notepaper from Harland and Wolff, which also went all the way to the bottom of the sea next to Titanic.
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Â鶹Éç Children In Need is on Friday (18 November) on Â鶹Éç ONE NI from 7.00pm live from Belfast and London, with television cameras out and about at Pudsey parties across Northern Ireland.
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Â鶹Éç Radio Ulster will also be joining in the party broadcasting live throughout the day, right up until midnight.
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Since 1980, more than £10m has been raised on the night by generous donations and fundraisers in Northern Ireland.
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To get a free Â鶹Éç Children in Need Party for Pudsey fundraising pack call 0845 607 33 33 or log on to bbc.co.uk/pudsey.
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