Belfast

Whispering Winds Why Do You Weep?

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IRA volunteer Francis Liggett was shot dead by the British Army during an attempted armed robbery at Royal Victoria Hospital, Falls Road in 1973 (Sutton) while local Sinn Féin member Paddy Brady was shot by the UFF while at work in 1984 (Sutton | An Phoblacht). They are commemorated in the St James memorial garden with the board shown above, featuring two verses from Bobby Sands’s poem Weeping Winds: Oh, Whispering [Whistling, in the original] winds why do you weep/When roaming free you are,
Oh! Is it that your poor heart’s broke/And scattered off afar?
Or is it that you bear the cries/Of people born unfree,
Who like your way have no control/Or sovereign destiny?
Oh! Lonely winds that stalk [walk] the night/To haunt the sinner’s soul/
Pray pity me a wretched lad/Who never will grow old.
Pray pity those who lie in pain/The bondsman and the slave
And whisper sweet the breath of God/Upon my humble grave.

The board is similar in design to the painted one it replaces, except that Éire was at the centre rather than the “SF” logo.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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May You Live As Nobly As They Died

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Strandtown and District Unionist Club used to be at 4 Belmont Road (Strandtown Hall) and it erected this memorial to local casualties in the Great War in Portland stone on the adjacent wall,(Lord Belmont in NI) which is now part of a Christian Fellowship church. “Hereon are recorded the names of those men and women who in serving voluntarily their King and country, laid down their lives. Pass not this stone sorrow but in pride and may you live as nobly as they died.” The building currently houses Bennett’s On Belmont, a UUP headquarters, and the Victoria Ulster Unionist Association upstairs.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Embrace Change Together

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A mosque rises between Samson and Goliath, the Harland & Wolff cranes, while in the lower third, people of different races and nationalities share the same streets of terraced housing.

Here are pictures of the launch on August 21st, part of the Active Communities Network‘s ‘Walk The Walls‘ event.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Your Friends At The Corner

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Here are two images of memorials dedicated to local residents without any apparent connection to politics. The picture above shows a painting of poppies on the garden wall of Susan Davidson’s house in Tiger’s Bay, Belfast. The image below is of a plaque in Creggan, Derry, to Billy and Shiela Quigley, who died in a car cash in 2004.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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School Of Champions

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Olympic boxing champion (and former Ireland soccer player) Katie Taylor is currently 6-0 in her professional career. Her image is being used here as an inspiration (or warning?) to the children of Victoria nursery in the New Lodge. She was also featured in a mural outside Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Come On You Boys In Green

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New Lodge soccer club St Patrick’s (Fb) have a new mural on the New Lodge Road, painted earlier this month by Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com | tw).

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Athbheochan/Renewal

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The inspiration for the new installation outside Coláıste Feırste entitled “Athbheochan” (“renewal”) is the area’s previous life as the site of spinning mills, established in the 1800s to take advantage of local rivers (Forbaırt Feırste). The Bog Meadows nature reserve down beside the M1 is the only part of the Blackstaff’s flood plain that remains in an undeveloped state.

The launch was on August 11th during Féıle by Maırtín Ó Muılleoır, but the piece is also part of Irish-language festival Lıú Lúnasa (tw | web) which is going on this week. Artist Aodán Monaghan can be seen on the left in the final image of kids climbing all over the artwork.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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He Died That We Might Live

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UVF volunteer John Hanna was 19 years old when he was killed by “the enemies of Ulster” (the IRA) at his home on Donegall Road in the Village. This new board is in Prince Andrew Park, just off Donegall Road. “Always remembered by the officers and volunteers South Belfast [2nd Batt Sandy Row] UVF”.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Fearfully And Wonderfully Made

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The picture tells a thousand words and a few more are added around the top: “Individual, unique, cherished, treasured, miraculous, fearfully & wonderfully made. Survivor!” This is Mark Ervine’s piece for #HitTheEast. In the in-progress shot below, Mark stands aside to let a local try her hand.

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Keep Ahead With Your Mental Health

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Kids from the Divis youth project at the Frank Gillen Centre were involved in designing the new mental health mural which was unveiled last week in west Belfast. BelfastLive has pictures of the launch on (August 11th).

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Copyright © 2017 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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