This entry provides an update to the images seen in Paddy Duffy’s collection under the title An Ideology Of Hate from the beginning of May, 2026. Compared to those images, the banner above – “Our brave soldiers didn’t die for this invasion – Send them home” – replaces the “Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists” and “Unite and fight” banners.
The banner above is similar in theme and elements to the large board seen in Sorry It Was All For Nothing: an elderly veteran kneels beside grave-stones with red Christain crosses, in the presence of men carrying the flag of the Islamic Republic Of Pakistan. They are also both products of AI.
Second, “We are united as one & united we shall remain. Never surrender.” with the flags of the “four nations” that make up the current United Kingdom.
Fourth, “Christ is king. Stand up to radical Islam. Islam is not a race – it’s an ideology of hate.” The language is echoed in the controversial board recently mounted at the bottom of Rathfern, in Newtownabbey – see A New Evil.
For “Ulster Carrickfergus Loyalists”, see No Illegal Immigrants in the Paddy Duffy collection.
The plaque in the bottom-right corner reads, “Dedicated to Sergeant George Arthur Horner 27/03/1927 Royal Ulster Rifles 14464865 — “Carrickfergus’ Oldest Veteran” and to all other veterans who served in HM Armed Forces.” Horner turned 99 a few days after this mural of D-Day was unveiled (on March 22nd) and he was awarded the freedom of Mid- And East-Antrim Borough (web). He served in the second battalion of the Royal Ulster Rifles, and landed on Sword Beach during the D-Day landings in June 1944 (Fb).
“Monica de Wichfeld, heroine of the resistance, daughter, mother, wife”. The blue plaque to Monica Massy-Beresford is at the Kinawley Holy Trinity church in Derrylin, Fermanagh, (Street View), near where she grew up. She moved to Denmark upon her marriage and had a long and varied career in the Danish resistance to the German occupation in WWII, raising money for the Communists, using her estate to shelter fleeing families and receive arms and train volunteers, and eventually heading the regional group on Lolland (WP).
Castlemara Drive, Carrickfergus
“Monica Massy-Beresford was born in London on 12th July 1894 to George and Alice and, at only ten years old, was brought back to the family home, St Hubert’s on the shores of Upper Lough Erne. Boats were the most common mode of transport in the area and Monica, who had three brothers, grew up as a skilled boatwoman with the reputation of being a tomboy. In April 1914, she accompanied her father when he went to Larne to bring back arms from the Clyde Valley for the Fermanagh Volunteers. … On 15th June 1916, Monica married a Danish nobleman called Jorgen de Wichfeld with whom she had two sons and a daughter. The family lived on the Danish island of Lolland and, despite occasional financial problems, wintered in the south of France and Italy. Although her brother’s death had instilled in Monica a passionate hatred of Germans, she had a lengthy affair with Kurt Huagwitz-Reventlow, who had served as an officer in the First World War. Nevertheless, her marriage lasted. … At the outbreak of the Second World War, Monica was living in Italy and did not return to Denmark until 1941. Despite a non-aggression pact having been signed by the two countries, Germany had invaded Denmark in 1940. Without the knowledge of her husband, Monica was soon helping the Danish Resistance with the help of her daughter Varinka who would later marry the Danish Resistance leader Flemming Muus. “She was involved in fundraising and spreading propaganda through the underground press. She assisted in the provision of munitions with the lakes around her home being used for air drops. She helped escapees such as saboteurs and the nuclear physicist Niels Bohr, who eventually reached the United States and played a leading roll [role] in the Manhattan Project which developed the first atomic bombs, used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, on 13th January 1944, she was arrested by the Gestapo, having been betrayed by a parachutist whom she had helped. On 31st March, these was an escape attempt which failed as a member of the Gestapo who was supposed to help was paid in advance and instead got drunk on the proceeds. On 13th May, she was condemned to death but, such were the protests at the first death sentence passed on a woman in Denmark in centuries and the sister of a British Brigadier General that the Germans hoped she would appeal. She refused on the grounds that her male comrades were not allowed to do so. Nevertheless she was reprieved and spent several months being transported to Germany and moved around several prison camps there before finally being housed in Waldheim Lutheran Church. But her ordeal had taken a toll on her health and she passed away there on 27th February 1945, only six weeks before she would have been freed by the Soviets.”
The 1st Ranger Battalion was formed in 1942 as the United States Army’s equivalent to the British Army’s Commandos and – after training at a camp in Carrickfergus – it saw action in France (at Dieppe (SOF History), resulting in the first US casualties of the war – WP), Algeria, Tunisia, and Italy. (There are four information panels at the Sunnylands shops about the formation and training of the unit.)
The insignia shown – which is here placed on top of the beret patch – is the insignia of the modern (75th Regiment) Rangers, with the lightning-bolt indicating the unit’s quick-strike abilities (SOF History); these are also alluded to by the motto “sua sponte”, meaning “of its/their own accord”.
This new art is by Dan Kitchener (web) in Victoria Parade, Carrickfergus, just outside the train station, produced in co-operation with Wonder Arts, the Communities In Transition programme from the Executive Office (web) and Carrickfergus Alternatives’ Peace Impact Programme (Fb).
It has been criticized by street-artist Wee Nuls (web) as glorifying conflict (ig), a charge the artist rejects, saying that it was produced in co-operation with locals and has been well received by them (MSN). (See also the reactions on the Let’s Talk Loyalism Fb page.)
The tank might be the M4 Sherman “Fury”. The tank appeared in the 2014 film of the same name (Bovington Tank Museum) used by the 66th Armor Regiment under the command of Brad Pitt; the film is perhaps the inspiration for the image (e.g. the scene in which the town of Kirchohsen is captured – youtube).
“Great love hath no man than this: to lay down his life for his friends – John 15:13”
Wreaths were laid for Remembrance Sunday at the base of the stone on Marine Highway in Carrickfergus, “erected in A.D. 1972 as a memorial to those citizens of the borough who gave their lives in two World Wars, 1914-1918, 1939-1945 and in subsequent conflicts.”
Among those laying wreaths were Mid- And East-Antrim Borough Council, UDR Veterans’ Association, RBP 17, PSNI, Woodburn junior LOL 258, Retired Police Officers’ Association, Ulidia Integrated College, DUP, PUP, UUP, ABOD, Royal Arch Purple, and others.
These are images of people collecting for Andy Allen Veterans Support (web) on the Shankill, Belfast. At its peak (in 1973) the UDR had more than 9,000 personnel (Statista). The UDR was amalgamated into the Royal Irish Regiment in 1992 and a 2005 estimate put the number of its veterans at about 58,000 (Veterans Services NI).
March 10th was the 53rd anniversary of the killings of three Highland Fusiliers, Dougald McCaughey and teen-aged brothers Joseph and John McCaig, who were drinking in a city centre pub and lured to their deaths in north Belfast at the hands of the (Provisional) IRA. The killings led to the resignation of NI prime minister James Chichester-Clark and an increase, to 18, in the minimum age for service (WP).
“In memory to all who fought and gave their lives.” This is the tribute to the Ulster Division at the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters’ Club, citing the words of Wilfrid Spender “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the First of July [1916], as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world.” (For more of Spender’s tribute to the 36th Division, see I Am Not An Ulsterman.)
“Let others come after us – we welcome the chase.” The exterior wall of the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters Club presents a gallery of the club’s managers from 1899 to 2018. In order they are William Wilton, Bill Struth, Scot Symon, David White, William Waddell, Jock Wallace, John Greig, Graeme Souness, Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish, Paul Le Guen, Ally McCoist, Stuart McCall, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty, Steve Gerrard (and since then, there have been Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, and (currently) Philippe Clement).
“Rangers ’til I die.” Here are images from the courtyard of the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters Club, (Fb) and the approach to the clubhouse.
First, a pair of UVF boards above the courtyard listing both local (Carrickfergus, Ballyduff, Ballyclare, Greenisland, Glengormley, Monkstown, Rathcoole, Larne, Whitehead) and affiliated British units (Drumchapel (Glasgow, Scotland), Springburn (Glasgow) Possilpark (Glasgow), Paisley (Scotland), Falkirk (Scotland), Liverpool (England), Blackpool (England), Corby (England), and Blairgowrie (Scotland)) of the 1st East Antrim Battalion, “The people’s army”.
Second, the tarp on the back of the Men’s Shed.
Third and fourth, the boards on the lawn and the painted columns of the railway bridge on St Bride’s Street/North Road.
Extramural Activity 