Belfast

A Thought Is Not A lot

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Complementing the images from Ulster Tower Street, here are images of the new commemorative boards and their blue backgrounds. The main board features Ulster Tower at Thiepval with a list of battles that the 36th (Ulster) Division was involved in.

The smaller board on the side-wall features a poem from local children: “The Great War took a lot of Pray/It’s hard to say w[h]ere all these brave men lay/A lot of souls still waiting to be found/Buried deep below the ground.//In the fields w[h]ere the bright red poppies grow/Stood men so brave of fight and foe/Some men so young they just didn’t know/A journey with friends they all wanted to go.// When they got there what a different tail [tale] they did tell/Many letters home describing it as hell/Young men put to front to fight/We can only imagine the awful sight.//Fighting beside their mate to keep Britain great/And we still remember them till this date/Nearly one hundred years on/A lot of these great men have gone/Forget them we will not as a thought is not a lot.”

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Ulster Tower Street

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For the anniversary of the Battle Of Albert and the start of the Battle Of The Somme, Tower Street in east Belfast became Ulster Tower Street and residents reproduced the Western Front, with huts of sandbags, canvas coverings for all the front walls, and headlines from the News Letter (“Ulster’s Sacrifice”) and Times (“Britain At War”) of the period. Images of the new murals can be found in A Thought Is Not A Lot.

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X03868 X03951 X03869 X03870 X03872 X03952 somme cambrai ypres messines thiepval marne 36th ulster division 1914 christmas day 1916 2016

Among The Fallen

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As part of the Poppy Trail, boards bearing the names, ages, addresses, and service units of Belfast casualties during WWI have been erected on walls and lampposts near their homes. Above: William Bloomer from Matilda Street in south Belfast. Below: Thomas Magowan from Tower Street in east Belfast.

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Kryat Dragon

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In the Star Wars universe, the Krayt Dragon (or Kryat Dragon, as artist Andy Council spells it) lives on Tatooine, the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker. It is rendered here in the buildings of Cloud City above Bespin, which was governed by Lando Calrissian in the “first” Star Wars (Episode IV).

Previously by Andy Council: Belfast City Phoenix

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Better Than Ice Cream

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A pigeon moves in to investigate the discarded ice cream from davidcreative (David McClelland)’s piece One Love for CNB16/HTN.

Update: “enhanced” by NIC

X04483 2017-09-15 NIC pumpkin+

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Ulster’s Past Defenders

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The Ulster Special Constabulary or B-Specials existed from 1920 to 1970; it was disbanded after being used for riot control in The Battle Of The Bogside. The Ulster Defence Regiment (which was under military control and was, as the mural notes, the largest infantry in the British Army) existed from 1970 until 1992, when it was merged with the Royal Irish Rangers.

From left to right: For Freedom Alone | As Long As 100 Of Us Remain Alive | Loyalist East Belfast | The Strangest Victory In All History | Ulster’s Past Defenders | Nationality is included in Loyalist East Belfast | Ulster’s Present Defenders | Freedom Corner

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X03942 UDR over 200 members were killed in the troubles 34 USC members were killed by the IRA painted by John Stewart

Seeing Things

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This pair of 3-dimensional hands was painted by emic (Fb | Web |Tw) in Kent Street for 2016’s Culture Night Belfast. Glasses are available in the Sunflower bar across the street.

Below is a shot of Eoin at work on the piece.

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Charter NI Scum Out

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Charter NI chief executive Dee Stitt returned to work on Wednesday after a three-week holiday following controversial remarks that a Bangor flute band (the North Down Defenders) provided “homeland security” for the area and that he was the big man in the area. (The remarks were included in this Guardian video, starting at 7m 22s. For more on the UDA in north Down, see this Tele article.) Many have called for his resignation, including Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP (Irish News), though the Charter NI board, who conducted an internal review, did not fire him. At least one of the local people in east Belfast was already unhappy with the organization this summer, when the graffiti above was sprayed in Beechfield Street.

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X03598 NI Executive “managed” September and not “controlled” November

St. Comgall’s

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St. Comgall’s Primary school on Divis Street opened in 1932 and closed in 1988. Here are two of the boards which currently decorate its boarded-up front windows. Above, St. Malachy’s Scout Pipe Band parades its way through the school yard. (If you know anything about the pipe band or the competition it is going to, please leave a comment.) Below, a céılí mór from 1969 is taking place. The school’s location at the bottom of Percy Street put it at the centre of events in 1969 as west Belfast tore itself apart.

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Water Is A Right!

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A proposed pipeline between North Dakota and southern Illinois would go under the Missouri river on the Standing Rock Reservation of the Sioux tribe, who have filed suit against the (US) Corps Of Engineers. Protests against the pipeline hit the mainstream news on September 3rd when security personnel used dogs to drive off protesters. The éirígí sheet shown above is hanging on the fencing below Divis tower.

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