#TITANIC - Philip Hammond's Requiem for the Lost Souls of the Titanic will be staged at St Anne's Cathedral on the centenary of the tragedy, BBC News reports.

The Belfast composer has spent over three years working on the "haunting" music that will pay tribute to the more than 1,500 people who lost their lives when the TItanic sank in 1912.

His requiem uses phrases from variations of the 'Nearer My God to Thee' and takes influence from Irish folk songs from the 1792 Belfast Harp Festival.

Accompanying the music will be lyrics from the original Latin Requiem Mass sung by the Belfast Philharmonic Society, Anuna, the Schola Cantorum of St Peter's Cathedral, Belfast, and Cappella Caeciliana.

The cathedral itself will also be part of the story, with seating arranged to imitate that on a ill-fated ship.

"It is part of history and it is part of who we are," said Hammond of the Titanic story.

BBC News has more on the story HERE.

Britain's shadow transport secretary has branded a "shambles" plans to reform the UK coastguard service that could see the closure of Northern Ireland's only dedicated search and rescue base.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that Labour's Maria Eagle questioned Secretary of State Philip Hammond on the issue in the Commons on Thursday.

"Why does he not just abandon the ill-thought-through proposals, which will leave our coastline a more dangerous place?' she asked.

Hammond, however, dismissed Eagle's challenge as "opportunism", noting that proposals to reform services of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) were first made by the previous Labour government.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, British Prime Minister David Cameron has already promised a rethink on the plans to streamline the UK's network of coastguard stations.

The public consultation on the proposed cuts ended on Thursday.