A holy trinity of Liverpool FC flag, the west Belfast “peace” line, and the Blessed Virgin Mary. Finn Square, Belfast.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Idols Of The Tribe
Belfast west
Cross Roads
You can enter the Finn Square cul de sac, but you might not make it out.
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The Earth And Its Toiling
“Fading away like the stars in the morning/Losing their light in the glorious sun/Thus would we pass from the earth and its tolling/Always remembered for what we have done.//Who’ll sing the anthem and who’ll tell the story/Will the line hold will it scatter and run/Shall we at last be united in glory/And always remembered for what we have done.”
Only Remembered (or: The Everlasting Memorial) is originally a hymn by Horatio Bonar dating back to 1860 at least, but its music and words have been modified many times (Mudcat). All versions, however, give “toiling” instead of “tolling”, and “only” rather than “always”.
English folk singer John Tams added a verse paying tribute to British war dead which is included here along the bottom of the mural (“Who’ll sing the anthem …” etc) (YouTube). The soldiers commemorated here are UVF members William Marchant, Trevor Logan, Douglas Mahood, John McClean, Norman Dunseith, Stevie Wilson, William Mahood, Brian McCallum, Ronnie Marchant, John Alexander McClean. The mural is on the side wall of the memorial to Brian “Herbie” McCallum.
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Orange Fest
There is a now-annual campaign to discourage excessive drinking and focus on “heritage, tradition, respect, remembrance, culture” during 12th celebrations, rebranded as the more family-friendly “Orange Fest’. Sponsored by the Policing And Community Safety Partnership (web | tw | Fb) Here is 2016’s campaign: Battle Of The Bottle.
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Herbie McCallum
The memorial to Brian “Herbie” McCallum at the top of Ainsworth Avenue received a major upgrade late last year, with two new plaques and a mural (shown above) along with a side wall that is featured in a separate post: The Earth And Its Toiling.
The long plaque reads: “June 1993 brought extreme Republican violence and agitation surrounding the annual Orange Whiterock parade, which was travelling its traditional route past this very spot and onto the Springfield Road. The threat being so severe to this community, the 1st Belfast Battalion Ulster Volunteer Force deployed several armed active service units. Herbie being Herbie was first to volunteer for duty. Realising the grenade he had been issued with had malfunctioned and giving absolutely no consideration for his own safety, he carried the device to a safe location, away from men, women and children. This one selfless act costs Herbie his life when the grenade detonated prematurely. Volunteer Brian “Herbie” McCallum died 29th June 1993. Sadly missed by his family friends and comrades. Rest easy soldier your duty is done. For God and Ulster.” McCallum died three days after the explosion.
The plaque from the original memorial (which dates back to 1994) has also been retained (above the one shown next, below): see Some Day Soon We’ll March Proudly On Parade.
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X06675 X06676 [X06677] [X06678] X06674 [X06680] “There is discipline in a volunteer/You can see it when he walks/There is honour in a volunteer,/You can hear it when he talks/There is courage in a volunteer,/You can see it in his eyes/There is loyalty in a volunteer/That he will not compromise.” “We will remember him. The officers and members of Sweeney’s ‘A’ Company 1st Belfast Battalion Ulster Volunteer Force.”
Another Hole In The Wall
The solid gates at the eastern (city centre) end of the west Belfast “peace” line have been replaced with see-through gates. The plans were released back in February (Belfast Live). Most of the Mickey Marley mural on the left (from the nationalist side) remains. According to the PA, the gates dated to 1992. Other gates have been similarly upgraded: see the gates in Workman Avenue (See-Through Sectarianism) and Howard Street (Belfast Lock-Up). Here is the list of DOJ-owned “interface structures”.
For images from Townsend St Presbyterian, see On The Other Side.
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Imagine There’s No Countries
No sooner had the pro-Trump message been blackened out (Your Wall, Your Border) than this graffiti appeared below the ‘Imagine’ mural in the neutral ground between the security gates on Northumberland Street: “Victory To Isreal [Israel]” with the Star of David.
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Gateway To West Belfast
Fáılte Feırste Thıar‘s second mural (the first is outside its offices in the middle Falls – see Go West) reinforces the claim that (republican) west Belfast begins as soon as you cross the motorway, five minutes’ walk from the city centre. Coıste’s tour of republican murals begins at Divis Tower and the new mural already seems to be drawing tourists – see the final image, below. The previous Coıste mural (M04900) has been deleted and incorporated into the mural, promising tourists “a unique walking tour by former political prisoners”.
The mural is a mix of landmarks – the new Raıdıó Fáılte building (which is located just below the mural), Divis tower, St Peter’s, Conway Mill, the so-called “international wall” of murals, the Bobby Sands mural, the Falls library, the new James Connolly centre, Cultúrlann, and Milltown cemetery – cultural images (Irish dancing and Féıle An Phobaıl) – and sporting images (clubs include Immaculata ABC, Gort Na Móna GAC, St Paul’s GAC). A gay pride ‘rainbow’ stripe runs below the Divis Street portion. Before the previous mural was painted (M07533), there was a Gateway To Belfast board at this spot.
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X06650 X06649 X06653 [X06651] Marty Lyons Micky Doherty
Dump Wood, No Shite
With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. “No shite” is on Lanark Way (west Belfast). For a more articulate list, see previously Stuff We Don’t Need.
The other three images are from the RYL [Roslyn?/Ravenhill? Young Loyalist] bonfire site in Lismore Street (east Belfast). where the “Irish News [is] not welcome” to write stories and take pictures of sites as the controversies surrounding them resurface each year, such as toxic fumes from tyres (see e.g. Tyre-Free Pyre and Tyred Of Your Culture) and state attempts to exchange funds for conditions on fires (see e.g. Culture Before Cash and Real Loyalists Will Never Be Bought).
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X06551 X06552 X06553 X06554 No fly tipping
Your Wall, Your Border
US president Donald Trump followed a three-day state visit to the UK (London and Portsmouth) with a few days in Ireland before briefly stopping in France for D-Day commemorations. In London, protesters gathered in their tens of thousands and the ‘Trump baby’ blimp flew in Parliament Square (gallery of images at CNN) before making its way to Dublin (BBC) for the second leg of the trip. The Trumps were likewise met by protesters when they landed at Shannon Airport (Irish Times) where he met Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and remarked “I think it [Brexit] will all work out very well [for the UK]. And also for you, with your wall, your border. We have a border situation in the United States and you have one over here, but I hear it’s going to work out very well.”
The besieged president would have been welcome, however, in loyalist west Belfast – the Israeli Star Of David and graffiti shown above were added below the Imagine mural between the security gates on Northumberland Street: “President Trump welcome in Belfast. No surrender.”
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Extramural Activity 