Each quadrant of Down (north, south, east, west) gave rise to a battalion of Ulster Volunteers, and North Down comprised 15 companies, almost doubling the typical British-Army size of eight companies (History Ireland; see also another History Ireland article on the initially sporadic development of the Volunteers out of Unionist Clubs).
Upon the outbreak of the Great War, the Down volunteers joined the 13th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles, which were assigned to the 108th brigade of the 36th Division of the British Army.
The mural shown in this entry is a recent repainting; the previous version was painted in 2017 (and originally c. 2007 – see M03697).
See also: Only A Few Minutes – a memorial mural to Bangor native James Samuel Davidson, of the 108th and a North Down volunteer.
Clandeboye Road, at the bottom of the Kilcooley estate.
Queen Elizabeth II died, aged 96, on September 8th, 2022, and is now (according to this board) queen of the angels in heaven (Matthew 28:2), which perhaps allows her to send other angels to Earth (Matthew 24:31) to deliver messages to chosen people.
Also included (below) from the same street is a memorial tarp to British soldiers in the Great War and WWII, including Vickers machine guns, Spitfire aeroplanes, and a WWI tank (perhaps a Mark V (Tank Museum)).
Here is a gallery of three waves of painting (24 pieces) from the Project 24 space (Spectator) on Queen’s Parade, Bangor. From top to bottom, the images are from late March, the bank holiday at the start of April, and mid April. (The wall was also painted in January – see Stop Ruining Art.)
Above is a self-portrait by artist Jossie Pops (Johnny Hamilton) (ig) who also painted the portrait of actor Gerard Butler immediately below. Shortly, after, RickyDrewAPiccy added a piece between these two – a robot with the words “Don’t drink flat whites. Don’t wear massive coats. Don’t be a robot.” (Fb) – but it was quickly replaced by the Codo heads (under ‘April 7th’, below).
“Armed and ready – Protestant Action Force [PAF] – ‘The Elite'”. The PAF name was used to cover semi-independent sub-groups of the UVF, active in the 1970s and 1980s in mid-Ulster and Newtownabbey (WP). The name was given in connection with rioting in Newtownards in late 2021 (BelTel).
These new boards claiming that the PAF was an “elite” are in in the Whitehill area of Bangor. The second such board, shown below, is covering up a memorial to David Gordon Dalzell (for background see Pride Of Whitehill).
The Red Hand Commando – another UVF sub-group/cover-name – also claim to be “the elite”; see e.g. 99.9% Need Not Apply.
Here is a galley of images of the streetart from a November, 2023, jam in Bangor, from PENS (ig), Ana Fish (ig), FGB (ig), Soaring Tides (ig). There were also jams in April (Around Every Corner) and January 2023 (This Is Not The Same As Other Days). The wall is off Queen’s Parade in the Bangor Marine regeneration area (DfC | Bangor By The Sea).
Abbey dance studios (web) Bangor, offers classes in ballet and performing-arts dance. The mural outside the studio in Abbey Street is by Visual Waste (ig).
Visual Waste (ig) reproduced a Terry Bradley (web) painting of a docker from the parlour (ig) of Outsiders Male Grooming (ig) on the gable of the business.
According to artist Emic (ig) this is a portrayal of Fluusa. Fluusa was the goddess of flowers from the southern Italian culture of the Osci, who in Roman mythology is known as Flora (WP). The art is on the upper floor of The Grand Social (ig), in High Street, Bangor.
Images from the east side of the Strand underpass in Holywood, beginning with Conaty’s Arch and ending with Van Morrison: “Smell the sea and feel the sky/Let your soul and spirit fly – ‘Into The Mystic'”.
Extramural Activity 