While also being marked as a 'celebration' of all that is best about Belfast shipbuilding, the 97th anniversary of the world's most infamous peacetime maritime disaster - the sinking of the Titanic - is also a time of sadness.

Ironically on the same day as another tragic event is recalled, the soccer disaster at the Hillsborough football ground in Liverpool, a range of activities are taking place to celebrate what by definition is an 'oxymoron' - remembering at one time those who died in the shipping disaster but also celebrating Belfast's shipbuilding heritage.

Today is the actual anniversary of the world's worst peacetime sinking and Belfast City Council's Titanic: Made In Belfast festival, reaches a peak today and continues until April 19.

It includes a series of talks, walks and boat trips.

At the W5 in the Odyssey Pavilion an exhibition entitled Titanic: Designed And Built In Belfast, features a collection of photographs, many of them taken by R J Welch, the official photographer of Harland & Wolff.

Through his camera lens, visitors get an amazing glimpse of the scale of the 'Yard', the environment in which men worked and the variety of different crafts which go to make up the city's rich industrial history and heritage.

The ship, built in the Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff, sank on its maiden voyage in April 1912, with the loss of more than 1,500 lives and was marked with a ceremony in Belfast.

Wreaths were laid at the memorial in the grounds of the City Hall, followed by a minute's silence.

The Belfast memorial featured, showing Thane looking down on two sea-nymphs with the body of a drowned seaman, was unveiled in 1920 and was paid for by public subscription.

Meanwhile, it has emerged that a travel company will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic with a cruise following the route.

The Balmoral, operated by Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, whose parent company now owns H&W, will recreate the voyage.

The 2012 cruise will follow the route of the Titanic and, on April 14, will arrive at the location the vessel sank some 100 years before, where there will be a special memorial ceremony.

After the service the cruise continues to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where excursions include a visit to the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where 121 Titanic victims are buried, before finally arriving in New York.

See: Hillsborough Tragedy Recalled

(BMcC/KMcA)