This new roadside memorial to the 36th (Ulster) Division in WWI, of wooden crosses on white stone along with a board on the wall above, has appeared on the Shore Road, across from Seaview, home of Crusaders FC, the Hatchet Men.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Anti-Racism World Cup is a seven-a-side soccer tournament held annually at the grounds of Donegal Celtic in west Belfast. East Belfast artist John Stewart painted a mural of east Belfast imagery in 2012, complete with Titanic museum, H & W cranes, Titanic, firemen, and shipyard workers. Being on the side of Ryan’s Newsagents, the mural also features confectionery, vintage brands in old money: Cadbury’s peppermint creme for 2d, 1.4 lb of Fry’s milk chocolate for 4d, Terry’s milk chocolate 5d, Rolos “delicious toffee” for 2d and KitKat chocolate crisp.
See also: 2014 Anti-racism World Cup banner at Donegal Celtic.
More by John Stewart: A Better Future | On That Journey
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Monkstown WWI mural in four quadrants showing the emblem of the 36th (Ulster) Division, a soldier at the cross in the Thiepval Cemetery, soldiers feeding a belt of ammunition into a Vicker’s machine gun, and others loading a Stokes mortar.
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Jamie Dornan (from Holywood) and Gillian Anderson are stars of the BBC series The Fall. He plays a serial-killer terrorizing Belfast and she the detective leading the investigation. Anderson is not shown here as she appears in The Fall, but in the style of Fifty Shades OfGrey, the BDSM-explicit novel by E. L. James, which has now been made into a movie, starring Dornan. It goes on general release tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, February 14th.
The panel above is one of a dozen from the new “upstairs” part of the Belfast Windows piece by Ciaran Gallagher (web) in the courtyard of the Dark Horse/Duke Of York. As Ciaran himself warns on his Facebook page, the “upstairs” material is adult and “not for the faint-hearted”. Below you can see the middle quartet: in the attic, a semi-nude woman behind bars with a menacing face in the background; on the left, Romper Room is on the TV and the skinhead sports a Mr. Do-Bee tattoo, but this is a UDA romper room, not kid’s playtime: two hoods take baseball bats to a victim; and in the middle, a pot-smoking policeman (in RUC/early-PSNI uniform) stands under the grow-lights of a cannabis factory.
For the “downstairs” part of the work, see Belfast, You’re Melting My Head | Belfast Stripped Bare.
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A selection of shovels and brooms stand to attention in the courtyard of The Hideout bar, in Donegall Pass, beneath boards to the 14th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and soldiers in WWI.
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HMS Caroline’s connection to Belfast is that she served as the headquarters for the Royal Naval Reserve in Alexandra Dock. Originally built in 1914, she served in the Grand Fleet and took part in the battle of Jutland on May 31st, 1916, as shown in the images above and below. She was decommissioned in 2011; it is hoped to open her as a museum and visitor attraction by the time of the centenary of the battle (WP). The Daily Mail has a gallery of images of the ship in its current state. Also present at the battle of Jutland, as captain of HMS Nestor, was Commander (later Sir) Edward Bingham.
The piece is by Jim Russell, who also painted Titanic Town – North Belfast.
Here is a New Visions video on the ship:
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Three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: Take up our quarrel with the foe; to you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die, we shall not sleep though poppies grow in Flanders’ fields.
For another WWI memorial in Shankill Graveyard see The Great War.
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This new piece in Tiger’s Bay illustrates various kinds of ‘Wartime Work’.
The central image of soldiers at the battle of the Somme is surrounded by images of various occupations: shipyard workers and miners perhaps, along with women welding, carrying coke and nursing. It’s not clear what the “fair wartime wage” refers to: there was a general strike at the shipyards in 1919 (The Great Unrest | Workers’ Liberty). The original Somme photograph is widely known – it was also reproduced in the Bangor mural to Sir Edward Bingham; the nurse is apparently the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia – WP. The woman carrying a sack of coke is from the Imperial War Museum’s collection.
The image above is from after the main wall was completed; the second image, below, shows the lower wall also. The lower wall is intended to be full, but painting has ceased indefinitely. The third image below shows the red, white, and blue kerb-stones, with the H&W cranes in the distance. The artist Jonny McKerr is shown at work. Another in-progress shot can be found at Arts For All. Last year McKerr did a similarly-styled piece on The Belfast Blitz.
Update: The low wall was completed and an information-board added for the official launched on 2015-06-25 – see Aftermath.
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Above and below is the scene at the end of summer in the courtyard of the Rex Bar – bunting and bouquets join the flags of the home nations and various boards celebrating the queen’s diamond jubilee and commemorating the 36th Ulster division “who selflessly gave their lives for King and county at the battle of the Somme”. The new boards (on the left hand side of the wide shot) were featured previously in The Last Post, along with the Union flag of The People’s Army. For the same scene ten years previously, see Betting Office.
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The tropical ravine in the Botanic Gardens is closed for renovation over the winter. The large plants which could not be moved had to be wrapped up as protection against the cold. (Belfast City Council) The ravine – including the elevated interior walkway shown above – was the brain-child of Charles McKimm (Ulster History Circle) whose blue plaque is shown in the second image. The images in this post were taken on the day before closing.
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Extramural Activity 