“A champion shows who he is by what he does when he’s tested. When he gets up and says “I can still do it”, he’s “a chamion.” In Irish mythology, the Tuatha invade Ireland and battle the Fir Bolg. They are successful but their king Nuadha loses his arm and with it his kingship of the Tuatha. He had it replaced with an arm made of silver and regained his position. He is used here as an inspiration for those struggling with mental health, who are encouraged to call Lifeline or Aware.
A history of Nuadha in murals is included in the Visual History page on Jim Fitzpatrick.
Work from TMN members in McKibben’s Court: ANCO and MASH below; above, possibly DEXTER without the “X” – get in touch if you know the tag (also to be seen on Union Street).
“Our revenge will be the laughter of our children” – The words of Bobby Sands are illustrated on an electical box on the Whiterock Road, Belfast, with silhouettes of children at play in nature.
About 100 people came out to Marine Gardens for the live broadcast of the coronation of Charles III on May 6th (Mid & East Antrim youtube), one of about nine such live-streams across Norther Ireland (Bel Tel).
In Irish mythology, Étaín (Éadaoin, Aideen) of the Ulaid and her lover Midir of the Tuatha Dé Danann turn into swans after Midir wins an embrace from her in a board game with her husband Eochaid, the High King of Ireland (Tochmarc Étaíne/The Wooing Of Étaín).
Street art by JMK (ig) in the Bullit alleyway off Church Lane.
“At this place of reflection, we proudly honour our heroic volunteers, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom & sovereignty of Ireland and the Irish people. We salute our many comrades, who spent numerous years in captivity, and who’s [sic] lives were often blighted by the experience. Never forgetting the WOMEN & MEN of Creggan and the Derry district, who stood steadfastly with the volunteers. BEIR BUA.” The 12 Troubles-era hunger strikers and 43 Derry brigade members are at the top of each panel with 115 named comrades/comrádaithe (and three unnamed) below (and on the side wall – first image below), with each name preceded by “Com.” as though establishing a new category of activist.
A ceremony to mark the forty-second anniversary of the deaths of IRA volunteers George McBrearty and Charles “Pop” Maguire – shot by the SAS on May 28th, 1981 – was held last Sunday (May 28th) in the garden of remembrance in Linsfort Drive, Creggan (Derry Now). On patrol in Creggan with two other IRA men, McBrearty and Maguire pursued and a car whose driver they suspected of being an SAS soldier and eventually stopped it at the bottom of Couch Road/Southway at the edge of the Brandywell. The driver shot McBrearty as he approached the car and Maguire was shot by the driver and/or by other undercover soldiers from 14th Intelligence who emerged from two other cars. A third volunteer was injured. (Lost Lives 2330)
The “Crann Na Poblachta”/”Tree Of The Republic” – a silver birch – was originally planted in front of the previous mural to George McBrearty mural in Rathkeele Way (see Freedom Fighter For The Republic) (Derry Journal). Both that mural and this one were painted by ‘Bogside Artist‘ Kevin Hasson.
There is a plaque to McBrearty & Maguire near the spot where they were killed on Coach Road/Southway (see M01544).
“No more ‘promises’ … No more excuses … Fix it now! Wall of protest #FiftyYearsOfFailure It’s not subjective … it’s not debatable. The data doesn’t lie.”
The general concern of this campaign is persistent under-investment in Derry and the northwest. One of the placards reads carried by a protester reads, “Belfast’s economy has grown 14% since the [1998] Good Friday Agreement, Derry’s has shrunk 7%” but the complaint goes back “fifty years”, based on the approval in 1965 (BBC) and construction by 1968 of what was initially called the “New University Of Ulster” at a new site in Coleraine rather at Magee University College in Derry. The final panel of the long board includes the logo of the Derry University Group “fighting for a cross-border independent university for the north west” (tw). (1965 was also the year that Craigavon was created.)
Extramural Activity 