cultural

Le Chéıle – Thegither

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East Belfast GAA (tw | Fb) was set up at the end of May, with Linda Ervine as club president (video | Irish Times). The ladies football team recorded the club’s first win, on August 16th, with the hurlers winning on September 3rd, and the camógs on September 19th. The emblem (here shown in somewhat blurred stitching) includes a (black) Ulster hand flanked by shamrock and thistle, over Samson and Goliath (the Harland & Wolff cranes) and “together” as Gaeılge, in English, and in Ulstèr-Scots.

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Continuing Conflicts

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The war memorial garden in City Way (Sandy Row) commemorates those from the Great War, World War II, and “Continuing Conflicts” which includes the “Troubles”. There is also a fourth, smaller, stone, with John Maxwell Edmonds’s memorial epitaph.

“The Great War 1914-1918: In memory of the fallen”, with John McCrae’s poem ‘In Flanders Fields‘.
“Second World War 1939-1945: Freedom is the sure possession of those have the courage to defend it. Their ideal is our legacy. Their sacrifice is our inspiration.”
“Continuing Conflicts: We remember those who have given their lives. The wounded and those who serve in continued conflicts around the world.”

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Their Amazing Attack

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“I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the First of July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world. – Wilfred [Wilfrid] Spender – The Somme 1916”. Spender was born in England but served as quartermaster of the Ulster Volunteers and general staff officer of the 36th (Ulster) Division. He won the Military Cross for actions at Thiepval, and became Cabinet Secretary of the new “Northern Ireland” in 1921 (WP). His words are on one of three new murals in Belvoir Park, alongside two large flags – the Union Flag and Ulster Banner. Above the WWI mural old RHC lettering is causing the paint to fall away.

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Pride Of The Park

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Pride Of The Park (Fb) is the local flute band in Armoy. Practices are usually on Monday nights in Park Orange Hall. The lettering is at the junction of Gracehill and Drones roads.

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This Year’s Twelfth

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Here are seven posters from the wall of the Shankill Leisure Centre and the Shankill Road Mission building urging people not to congregate when watching the parades. “This year the bands are coming to you!” “This year’s 12th is about the battle with the bug”. See previously: #SafeShankill | Battle Of The Bug

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Politics & Prayer

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The New Lodge grotto in honour of Mary, adjacent to various murals in support of republican POWs, has been repainted (see previously) with images of the Immaculate Heart Of Mary, Our Lady Of Fatima, and the trio above, showing St. Joseph the carpenter, Mary, and St Patrick(?).

St Thérèse is the figure next to “New” in “New Lodge Grotto” and Our Lady Of Medjugorje is on the right.

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On Foreign Fields

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“This plaque is dedicated to those men and women of the Orange Institution who volunteered to fight in the Great War for king and empire and who made the ultimate sacrifice on foreign fields.” A WWI commemorative plaque has been added to the Orange hall in Carrickfergus (seen previously in M05249).

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#SafeShankill

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Social distancing was hard to maintain in some areas (BelTel) but many people celebrated the 12th from home this year, thank in part to messages such as appear on this pair of paste-ups in Olive Street and Glenvale Street off the Woodvale Road. “This year the bands are coming to you!” “This year’s 12th is about the battle with the [coronavirus] bug.”

X07786 2020-12-11 Prot Flute+

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There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

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“Glentoran FC. Pride of Ulster.” Two examples from the Glentoran sticker campaign in the early months of the year, before coronavirus put and end to the season and the players on furlough. See previously Le Coq Sportif.

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Stay Apart

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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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