PUL

The Liberties Of England

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William III, statholder of Holland, landed at Torbay, England, in November, 1688 with 250+ ships and 30,000 men in order to overthrow the Catholic convert James II who had become king in 1685. As he came ashore he proclaimed “the liberties of England and the Protestant religion I will maintain.” As king of England, William was automatically made king of Ireland, but he and his forces had to go to Ireland to win the island from James and the forces loyal to him. Schomberg had already successfully besieged Carrickfergus in 1689 when William landed in June 1690 and moved south to join Schomberg at Dundalk.

The mural reproduces the illustration from a postcard.

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Godfather Of Legal Betting

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“Clark Groves was born on the 14th May 1889. A naval officer, in WW1, he fought at the Battle of Jutland. After the war he worked as a fitter in Harland & Wolff before using his de-mob money to establish a bookmaking business here in 14 Manderson Street (since demolished), at the back of the Old Clock Bar. The bookie’s ‘Pitch’ was very like the ones seen in the TV series ‘Peaky Blinders!’ At this time, running a betting business was illegal. Clark, and a number of other bookmakers, founded the Turf Guardians Association and led a successful campaign to have their businesses legalised. Years later, a local bookie told Clark’s grandson that he and his colleagues owed their livelihoods to ‘Old Godfathers’ like Clark. Clark was a generous, popular man. He helped out many local people over the years, lending money for funerals, weddings and education costs. It’s said that he ‘married and buried them on the Newtownards Road!’ He died on 28th May 1957, just two weeks after his 68th birthday. His funeral was the biggest seen before or since in the area. The trolley buses to Dundonald Cemetery were full of people and those who couldn’t get on walked the length of Newtownards Road to be there. A measure of the man for sure. Clark Groves was the annual summer football tournament that was played at ‘The Hen Run,’ the home of Dundela FC. It was known as the Clark Groves Cup. – Stephen Beggs”

Connswater Street, east Belfast

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Arlene Must Go

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Brexit has happened and people, particularly hauliers and smaller retailers, are having trouble adjusting to the fact that Northern Ireland remains within the EU customs union and single market for goods, which means additional paperwork for goods moving between NI and Britain (BBC | Belfast Live). The current disruptions will likely be overcome in due course but the presence of a border is symbolically powerful. This east Belfast graffitist is unhappy with the outcome: “No Irish sea border – [DUP leader] Arlene [Foster] must go.” George Osborne, former UK chancellor and now editor at the London Evening Standard, called the DUP’s decision to reject Theresa May’s deal “stupid” (BelTel) and the FT called the DUP nationalism’s “secret weapon” (ft.com). The Tele wonders if Gavin Robinson is angling for a crack at the leadership (BelTel).

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Copyright © 2021 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)
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The Glorious Dead

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Four of the 700 NHS staff in the UK to die of Covid during the pandemic have come Northern Ireland, the most recent being dementia specialist Alan Henry in Antrim hospital (Express | BelTel | iTV). In the south, Defence Forces have been deployed to three nursing homes while 6,400 health workers are off sick (Irish Times). The mural above shows a masked nurse and doctor among a field of poppies. For the black-and-white boards above, see Connswater Commemorates.

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Road Sign

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Speed limits in Northern Ireland are set by the Department Of Infrastructure/An Roinn Bonneagair after consideration of all relevant factors. The residents of Tern Street, Belfast, have instead used a decades-old mode of public communication – wall painting – to ask motorists to slow down around the sharp turn just off Dee Street.

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V For Victory

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August 15th, 1945, saw the end of the second World War in the Pacific theatre, effectively ending the war as a whole. The 75th anniversary of the event was celebrated on the Shankill by and Up! Culture + Arts. Belfast Councillor (and 2020 High Sheriff) Nicola Verner has video (tw) of the tarp on the float that paraded along the Shankill on the day itself. With sponsorship from the Executive and the Greater Shankill Partnership (tw).

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A Blythe Yuletide Tae Yin An Aa

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“Glorie tae God, the Messiah’s come noo”. The story of the birth of Jesus is told in Ulstèr-Scotch passages from the Bible and from Alexander Halliday’s song on tarps around the North Belfast Orange Memorial Hall. “A virgin will cairrie a wean … an whan he’s boarn, he’ll be caad Immanuel, mainin “God is wi iz.” (Mattha 1v23)” “When frae the East the wise men cam/The staur in Bethlehem was brightly shinin’/Doon on the place whaur lay the Lamb/And the angels roon’ about were singin’.”

The NHS tarp on the front of the hall was featured in July.

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Bonies

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Photographer Mariusz Smiejek (web | ig) was born in Poland in 1978 but moved to Northern Ireland in 2011, which is when he started taking pictures of bonfires – in areas such as Highfield, the Village, and the Shankill – and the people around them. The full gallery for his ‘Bonies’ project is available on his web site.

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Community Heroes

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Walkway Community Centre (Fb) in east Belfast got a new mural back in May, painted by Nathan Calderwood, to thank all of the “community heroes” working during the pandemic. “ea” (on the left) is for Education Authority who sponsored the work.

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It’s OK To Talk

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October 10th is WHO World Mental Health Day. To mark the occasion and respond to the continued high rates of suicide in west Belfast (Assembly Research), emic (web | tw | ig) and local youth painted an “OK” gesture on the side of the Alternatives (web) offices in Agnes Street, which also includes the numbers for Lifeline and Samaritans. In-progress images of the mural being painted by can be seen at AlternativesRJ. In the US, the “OK” hand gesture has recently become associated with the ‘white power’ movement (WP).

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