“MOD deny our troops a well deserved homecoming parade. We as a community need to stand together as one and show our support for those who have sacrificed their lives and served this Country. Please show your support for these brave servicemen and women at Belfast City Hall on Sunday May 22nd 2011. Everyone will be meeting at 12 noon at the Shankill Memorial Gardens and walking to Belfast City Hall. If you care be there.”
“Richard Mussen joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers (27th foot) at the age of 15. At the outbreak of the Zulu wars he volunteered for active service and was transferred to the Second Battalion The South Wales Borderers (24th foot). At the outbreak of the Great War he joined the 9th Battalion Royal Ulster Rifles and with him went his 4 sons and 2 sons-in-law. His son Richard (junior) was killed at the Somme on Thursday 21st March, 1918 and is remembered at Pozieres Memorial. Richard Mussen was buried from 22 Dundee Street [which was just above Agnes Street] on 29/12/1936 and was accorded full Military Honours. He was laid to rest in Belfast City Cemetery.” (From the accompanying plaque.)
Here is a short NVTv documentary about Mussen, including (at 12m25s) the image on which the mural shown here is based. The mural was done with spray paint by artist Sam Bates a.k.a. SMUG. It was unveiled on June 24th, 2011.
For some close-ups and the plaque, see the 2016 post.
Republican Socialist Youth Movement graffiti with stencil of Connolly and (defunct) internet address (Fb | ig) at the site of the old Andersonstown RUC barracks.
Brendan Lillis was imprisoned in 1977 but freed in 2003. He was returned to prison in 2009 on robbery charges. Lillis was released from Maghaberry on August 19th, 2011, on humanitarian grounds – he suffered from a severe form of arthritis (BBC-NI).
Here are eight images of the long (very long!) mural on the wall between Divis and the motorway, with scenes of life in Divis from yesteryear: kids swinging on lampposts, people praying in St Peter’s, women having a pint in the pub. Also notable is the hut made out of SDLP electoral signs. For a larger (in progress) set, see C01256.
[Partial ordering From left to right: shop + drinking + van | 3 women (above) + Belfast Celtic + boxer | pub house + 3 girls washing feet | trike + lamppost swing | praying | …]
[… | paperboy + pair on bike + communion pair | boy with ball + solo older man | 3 women in pub + street | …]
“Only by remembering these men, and others like them, can we ever repay their memory.” Nine Victoria Cross recipients from the 36th (Ulster) Division in World War I are honoured in this board on the Shankill at the Co-Op (which was previously across the road in Crimea Street).
The upper end of Conway Street and Conway Mill itself were redeveloped from 2008 to 2012. In 2011, the year these pictures were taken, a piece of the old mural remained. (The part in the second image was the last to go.) For another piece of the mural, see Mill Committee.
The Maureen Sheehan Centre is named after a nurse and member of the board of governors at St Teresa’s Nursery School who was killed in a traffic accident.
Balor and eight other panels in an alley linking the Falls with Ross Road, shortly before redevelopment of Ross Cottages. For individual images of many of the pieces, see Fáılte Go Dtí Bóthar Na bhFál.
Extramural Activity 