Due to the coronavirus pandemic, people celebrating the Twelfth yesterday were encouraged to maintain physical distance from others by staying in their gardens as the bands marched by. Homeowners decorated their properties (perhaps using these Twelfth At Home packs in Lurgan). Here is video from the Belfast Telegraph of yesterday’s marches.
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The Red Hand Defenders flute band will commence its march from the Clough (Co. Down) Orange hall at 12:30 and its route will take it under the Orange arch in Main Street, shown here, with King Billy flanked by portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (on the left) and soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division (on the right). It will visit the houses in Jordanstown, Church Grove, Church Court, and Claragh Court (PC).
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Here is the bonfire in Pitt Park (east Belfast) that was set alight yesterday evening for “Eleventh Night” (for some images see this Kevin Scott gallery). This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there is a banner advising people to “Stay 1m apart! Thank you”, in addition to nationalist symbols such as the Irish Tricolour.
For the mural in the background, see Culture Threatens No One.
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Flags are flying in east Belfast in preparation for this year’s marching season (and the 75th anniversary of VE Day. All seems normal but the coronavirus epidemic has meant the cancellation of many parades for this year’s Twelfth (which will be celebrated on Monday, the 13th) and a social media campaign to get people to stay at their homes and “let the band come to you” (Newsletter | Irish Times | BBC).
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Union flags with “Thank You NHS” in east Belfast, one (above) in front of “Freedom Corner” on Newtownards Road (for the recent history of the mural on the right, see East Belfast Brigade) and another (below) in Ballarat Street.
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The foundation stone for North Belfast Memorial Hall (Fb) was laid by Edward Carson in 1923 (Fb) to a plan by Gabriel Porte. Here is the facade in brilliant sunshine, with a banner in support of NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic. “Thank you to all our NHS staff and essential workers from the local Orange family together fighting Covid-19.”
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William McFadzean won a VC for sacrificing himself on the morning before the Battle Of The Somme (in WWI) and is commemorated in several murals. He shares a plaque here with “Vol W Miller”, who is perhaps the (modern UVF) volunteer Billy Miller from Donegall Pass who was killed in an RUC ambush in 1983 (Long Kesh I/O). The two names on the newer plaque are unknown on-line, perhaps having survived the Troubles and being recently deceased.
The title of today’s post comes from the Laurence Binyon poem For The Fallen.
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“Pro tanto quid retribuamus” [What shall we give in return for so much] is the motto of Belfast, included in the coat of arms shown above and newly appropriate in the coronavirus pandemic. “Thank you to all our NHS staff and essential workers from the local Orange family. Together fighting Covid-19.” The banner is on the Clifton Street hall; King William III bestrides his horse and the horse bestrides the building.
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The heroes of the past are the soldiers of WWI and WWII (commemorated by the poppies growing in ACT Initiative‘s Shankill Road Community Garden, above, and in the 75th anniversary VE Day posters in Madrid Street, east Belfast, below); the present-day heroes are the doctors, nurses, and staff of the NHS, symbolised by the rainbow in both images.
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Extramural Activity 