PUL

Celebrate Identities

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Ballynafeigh is the neighborhood just across Ormeau bridge, containing Annadale flats and surrounding streets – home to Ormeau Road UDA/UFF and Ballynafeigh Apprentice Boys flute band (Fb). The mural shown above was painted by Daniela Balmaverde (web) with help from local volunteers and presents imagery from non-Western cultures along with slogans on tree-trunks: “Cultural dialogue”, “Celebrate identities”, Shared neighbourhood”, “Community development”, “Tolerance”, and “Respect cultural diversity”. Welcome to Ballynafeigh.

The mural is at the southern Ormeau Road entrance to Ormeau park opposite Candahar Street. The Brigada Romona Para mural was previously in this spot.

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Leaving Belfast

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The Ballyhackamore mural by Ed Hicks (ig) – painted along with murals by emic and Alana McDowell – is on the eastern side of Eastleigh Crescent, so that when looking at it the viewer is looking away from the city and towards the … hills – perhaps Scrabo country park.

Previously by Hicks in east Belfast: California Dreamin’

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Whitehead Temperance

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Benjamin West painted The Battle Of The Boyne in 1778 and his composition – with William moving from left to right on a white horse and Marshal Schomberg dying in the bottom-right corner – has become the standard representation in loyalist culture, perhaps due to versions of it appearing on the covers of songbooks for the Orange Order and the Apprentice Boys soon after (Belinda Loftus 1982 Images In Conflict). It appears here on the wall of Whitehead Orange Hall, along with a board connecting service by Irish soldiers in British forces in WWI and Afghanistan (see previously: Time Changes in east Belfast).

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When The World Seems To Shine

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Another mural on Upper Newtownards Road on the lamplighter theme: Ballyhack-Amore by Alana McDowell (ig | web). The name “Ballyhackamore” comes not from Italian but from Irish: Baile an Chacamair, town of the mud flat (PlaceNamesNI).

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Lamplighting Time

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Episode 38 of the BBC’s “Year ’21” podcast considered the life (and diary) of a lamplighter in east Belfast who witnessed the violence that gripped the city in 1920-1922. The tribute on Newtowanards Road is by emic (web) with support from Daisy Chain (tw) and EastSide Partnership (tw).

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Break The Stigma

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“It’s okay not to be okay” – These are the shutters of Beep’s ice-cream and sweet shop (Fb) on the Woodstock Road, painted last October in support of mental health in the community.

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The Maidens

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The Maidens was originally a pair of lighthouses built on a pair of rocky islets (also called the Maidens) about 9 km from Ballygally, first made operational in 1729. One tower was abandoned in 1903 and the remaining tower was automated in 1977 (WP).

“Audrey Kyle is a watercolour artist from Islandmagee and draws inspiration from the area’s rich maritime history and beautiful scenery. Her painting shows one of the Maidens Lighthouses off the coast of Islandmagee, along with a Schooner and the Princess Victoria. This is to demonstrate maritime history both old and new. One of the local stories related to the Maidens is from 1830s when the Assistant Keeper of one lighthouse fell in love with daughter of the keeper of the other. He would visit his love by boat, until the girl’s father found out and he forbade them to meet. The story ends with the couple eloping to Carrickfergus on the mainland.”

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Rubicon

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“‘Rubicon’ – the family home of Pte. William F. McFadzean, Victoria Cross, who gave his life to save his comrades at Thiepval Wood on 1st July 1916 immediately prior to the Battle Of The Somme.” McFadzean died when he threw himself on a fallen box of grenades; for this action he was awarded the VC (WP).

The plaque is on Cregagh Road at Cregagh Park. There’s a picture of McFadzean standing outside the house at Royal Irish.

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Inspiring Belfast

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“25 years of regeneration” – 2021 was the 25th year of work in east Belfast for EastSide Partnership (web | tw). This video highlights some of their activities and projects. The tarp shown above is below the Luminaries & Legends board in Connswater Street.

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Standing Stone

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The bricked up first floor of the Tudor Lodge (formerly the Telstar) is still standing at the bottom of Gray’s Lane, with UFF graffiti that goes back a decade. For even earlier (2005) graffiti around the Tudor Lodge, see Sinn Féin Toadies.

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