As part of the preparations for the centenary celebrations of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Fernhill House, in Glencairn Park to the west of the Ballygomartin Road, was refurbished. The house and park served as headquarters and training ground for the Ulster Volunteers. For images and video of the parade, which included people dressed in period costume, see the Tele. The name and insignia of the Volunteers — a red hand and the phrase ‘For God and Ulster’ — were re-used in the mid-nineteen-sixties, when the modern UVF was established.
Graffiti on the Forthriver Road, in Glencairn: “RIP Maggie Thatcher. True Legend. The Iron Lady.” Beneath a banner reading “Glencairn demands civil rights for all Protestants now!”
Graffiti at the corner of Lawnbrook Avenue and the Shankill Road: Policing Supporting Nationalists Interests (rather than: Police Service of Northern Ireland).
Above is the new Joe Cahill mural in Beechview Park, next to the GAA pitch. The mural was unveiled on September 2nd. (Images of the unveiling from An Phoblacht.) Joe Cahill (WP) holds the cup aloft. The group in the bottom left corner (see the second image, below) are Pat O’Hare, Frank Cahill, Tom Cahill, (the three Cahills were featured in the previous mural) Ned Maguire, Jr., Ned Maguire, Sr., Alec Crowe, Paddy Meenan, Tommy Crowe, Dal Delaney, and Hugh Elliot. In the crook of Cahill’s arm (see third image, below) are Rita McParland, Sean Wallace, Paddy Corrigan, John Pettigrew, and John Stone. None of these adults is still alive; all were from the local area.
The chalet bungalows in the background on the left are gone, but you can see images of them on the Belfast Forum.
The plaque on the left names others in addition: Billy Kelly, Alice Cush, Kate Campbell, John Mulligan, Mary Mulligan, David Mulhern, Margaret Mulhern, John Clarke, Margaret Farrelly, Marie Williams, Kevin Sullivan, Michael Rock, John McColgan, Bridget Maguire, Martin Maguire, Sally Corrigan, Sonny O’Reilly, Maggie McArdle, Jimmy McArdle, Kathleen Wallace, Maragret McGuinness, John Flanagan, Maisie McGuckian, Charlie McGuckian, Anthony Muldoon, Jim Logue, Ellen Weir, Liam Mackie, Oliver McParland, Sadie McMahon, Tommy Crowe, Maddie Holden, Sarah Doyle, Jimmy Doyle, Kathleen Pettigrew, Mary Cushnihan, Bell Cosgrove, Gerry Campbell.
“JFTC2” stands for “Justice for the Craigavon 2” and is the latest Black Mountain project from the GaelForce Art group. Above is a view from Ballymurphy, over the Cú Chulaınn mural on Glenalina Road, and the image below is the view from the Slıabh Dubh estate (off Springfield Road, opposite the barracks), where a new series of super-hero murals (including Spiderman) are currently being painted. The “2” are Brendan McConville and John-Paul Wootton and appeals for the innocence (in the death of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll), are ongoing. (Video from U.tv.)
This new pro-Basque mural on the International Wall on Divis Street calls for the release of Arnaldo Otegi, one-time ETA member and leader of a pro-Basque party, along with other political prisoners. (More information on Otegi at arnaldotegi.com and WP.) “Pake bidean” is the Basque for “The pathway to peace”. (The mural is at the eastern end of the wall; takes the place of the Ian Knox anti-racism mural featured in Never Actually Existed.)
Update: Otegi was released in March, 2016 (Irish Times)
A subdued, sheet-covered, Indian community hall, between the Carlisle Memorial church and the Clifton Street Orange Order hall, was open to the public during the European Heritage Open Days last month.
Here are two final images from the Clifton Street Orange Lodge, the first showing various insignia on a sash, including a Bible and crossed swords, the second showing various halberds.
The title of the post comes from a well-known phrase “with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other”, the earliest appearance of which seems to be in Giovanni Battista Nicolini’s 1854 History Of The Jesuits: “Protestantism, a giant in its infancy, standing in a menacing attitude, with the Bible in one hand and the sword in the other, bid defiance to the impugners of the Sacred Volume.”
Extramural Activity 