“This police force is after your hearts and minds. The true face of this force: harrasses [sic] and stalks Republicans and their families; works hand in glove withe MI5, NCA and British Army; uses informers to spy and up ‘Persons of Interest’; gives immunity to criminals in return for information. From RUC to PSNI – unchanged, unchanging, unchangeable.” IRSP poster in Oakman Street.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04018
Winston Churchill’s line about the British Air Force in WWII, that “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few“, is echoed in this WWI board about the battles at the Somme between July 1st and November 18th, 1916. “The few” in this case, however, number nearly half a million dead and more than 72,000 missing. “Never before was a debt owed to so few by so many. Generation after generation owe them everything. Lest we forget.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04012 Willowfield
Pop singer George Michael died on Christmas Day, 2016 (WP) and Prince on April 21st. Both were in their 50s. They are remembered in this south Belfast mural by Glen Molloy.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04004 India St
People Before Profit are fielding two candidates (Michael Collins, Gerry Carroll) in west Belfast for the Assembly elections. The hoarding above (on the Andersonstown Road) points to “the failure of established political parties” (“theıp ar na páırtıthe polaıtıúla bunaíochta”) and asks voters to “seize the opportunity” for change.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04019
A good or bad sign of things to come? Wild-style writing in McKibben’s Court/Unity Walk, Belfast.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03994
Words (by Edward Mote in 1836) from a Christian hymn ‘My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less’, commonly sung to the 1863 tune by William Bradbury ‘The Solid Rock’ (WP) but also used with a different melody for the song Cornerstone (which is the name of the east Belfast community group) written on a ribbon wrapped around an anchor in east Belfast: “In every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04007
Workman & Clark’s (in the centre panel above) was a Belfast shipyard existing from 1880 to 1935. During the first world war it took over the construction of two monitor ships (specifically, M29 and M31) for the Royal Navy that H&W did not have space to build. For more, see Grace’s Guide | BBC audio on monitor ships and their construction, including a record for number of rivets hammered in by one John Moore at Workman Clark’s.
These are panels 6, 7, and 8 from the new boards along York Street on the outer wall of the NI Railways mechanical engineering workshop.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03991
Christopher Walken, Adam Ant, and Harrison Ford are the final three figures from Glen Molloy’s gallery of stars on Corporation Street. The wide shot below also shows Noel Gallagher and Bruce Lee in the second and third spots.
See previously: Jack Nicholson | Billy Casper | Shaun of the Dead/Leo DiCaprio/Bowie
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04003 X03999
“Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” The Woodstock Somme Centenary Project aims to do that with a new collection of boards in Willowfield Street which includes (above) the nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I (from 1917 and 1918) – E[dmund] De Wind, E[rnest] Seaman, C[ecil] L[eonard] Knox, N[orman] Harvey, (from 1916) G[eoffrey] St. G[eorge] S[hillington] Cather, W[illiam] F[rederick] MacFadzean, E[ric] N[orman] F[rankland] Bell, R[obert] Quigg, and J[ames] S[amuel] Emerson – and information about the Ulster Tower and Thiepval memorials.
The illustrations come from Cyril Falls’s book The History Of The 36th (Ulster) Division (from Project Gutenberg).
For a wide shot, see Faugh-A-Ballagh.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X04011 X04174 X04175 X04176 X04177 “In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row/That mark our place; and in the sky/The larks, still bravely singing, fly/Scarce heard amid the guns below.//We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,/Loved and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders fields//Take up our quarrel with the foe:/To you from failing hands we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high./If ye break faith with us who die/We shall not sleep/Though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.” Canadian physician John McCrae 1872-1918
Henry Wilson Helen’s Tower Edward Lutyens President Doumer Philip Gibbs official british reporter
A vintage small board dating back to 1995, still visible in Abercorn Street, London-/Derry.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02843
Extramural Activity 