The guillemot is distinctive for its red “gape” (inside of mouth). It spends most of its time on and around water but nests on cliff ledges and other remote spaces in May (BirdWatchIreland). The pointed shape of the egg makes it less likely to fall off cliffs (British Birds). They have been nesting in Bangor since at least 1911 (Geograph). If you can’t spot any at the marina, you can check out this mural by Dan Leo (ig) in nearby Victoria Road.
Lí Ban became a mermaid – half-human, half-salmon – after a year spent living in an underwater bower, taking shelter from the family’s uncovered spring that overnight formed Lough Neagh. Three hundred years later (circa 558 A.D.) she told an envoy of Saint Comgall’s who was on his way to Rome, that she would come ashore at Larne a year later. She forwent another 300 years of sea life in favour of being baptised and dying immediately. She was baptised by Comgall, the abbot of Bangor, and christened “Muirgen” (sea-born) and was buried in the Lough Derg (Donegal) abbey (O’Grady | WP). Muirgen’s feast-day is January 27th (Sacred Sisters).
Painted by Friz (ig) for the Bangor Seaside Revival Festival, with support from Seedhead Arts (ig).
For a different style of presentation of Lí Ban, see Shaped By Sea And Stone in Larne. The end of the story is similar to the fate of the children of Lear, who spend 900 years as swans before a monk hears their song, puts them (willingly) in chains, but in protecting them from others touches them, which restores them to human form only for (baptism and) death to follow immediately. (See The Children Of Lear.)
“”From here started the long hard march to allied victory” Dwight D. Eisenhower. “Opposite this point was the gathering area for a massive convoy of mixed ships which sailed to arrive at the beaches of Normandy on D-Day 6th. June 1944.”” US naval vessels gathered in Belfast Lough and Commander Thomas Keane (photo) was residing at the Royal hotel in Bangor (WartimeNI). General Eisenhower inspected the USS Quincy at Bangor on 19th May, 1944, (WartimeNI). Bangor’s North Pier was renamed Eisenhower Pier in 2004.
The quote is from August, 1945, when Eisenhower received an honorary doctorate from Queen’s (WartimeNI).
Before rock band Thin Lizzy played the King’s Club at the Queen’s Court hotel in Bangor on July 27th, 1974 (Thin Lizzy Guide), they took to the water in order to take in the town. They were photographed in the act by Dublin photographer Liam Quigley (Indo profile), and the picture (see it at Thin Lizzy Guide) was turned into a mural by Friz (ig) in Crosby Street, Bangor, last year.
Original guitarist Eric Bell (who was also a member of Them) is featured in a mural of famous faces in east Belfast – see Inspiring Belfast.
An arch of a different kind in the Kilcooley estate: a reflective steel arc overlooking a circular mosaic.
“This steel and ceramic sculpture was created by the residents, children and young people from the Kilcooley Community, working in collaboration with visual artists Duncan Ross and Helen Sharp. The sculpture was created as part of the North Down Borough Council Art of Regeneration Project. The sculpture was officially launched by the Chair of the Art of Regeneration Partnership Councillor Alan Leslie on the 28th April 2009. Funded by the Art Council of NI, NI Housing Executive, North Down Local Strategy Partnership through Peace II, Department for Social Development and North Down Borough Council. Tiles printed and supplied by Edinburgh Ceramics.”
Here are two murals aimed at children in Kilcooley, Bangor. On the one hand, the first one (images 1, 2, 3) includes a WWI soldier and the saying “For your tomorrow, we gave our today”; on the other, the second – Education is a journey, not a destination – is a NIHE project that replaces a UDA mural: see Simply The Best.
Three-in-a-row at the Bowtown (Newtownards) newsagents: on the left, “Lest we forget” (final image); in the middle, the emblems of the UVF, 36th Division, and YCV against a backdrop of WWI soldiers; on the right-hand, Captain Tom Moore, who raised money for the NHS during lockdown. Above the shop itself can be seen “East Belfast UVF” while the flag is from the North Down UVF. The sticker on the phone box says Stop PSNI Harassment.
“East Belfast 6th battalion, North Down”, with UFF, UDA, and UYM insignia against a background of the Harland & Wolff cranes (in east Belfast) and Ulster tower (in Thiepval), at the upper entrance to Kilcooley estate, Bangor. An image of this tarp was included by Dee Stitt in a gallery illustrating “Protestant culture” (tw) which drew a correction from the Rev Bill Shaw, a director of Charter NI; Jamie Bryson responded on Stitt’s behalf (News Letter).
Here is a selection of UVF boards on the fronts of houses in Whitehill (Bangor). Two flute bands are mentioned: Pride Of Whitehill (Fb) and Bangor Protestant Boys (Fb). In the final image, the date of the formation of the Ulster Volunteers is given in Roman numerals: MCMXII.
Extramural Activity 