Play and physical activity are promoted as aiding with mental health among Twinbrook children.
“Nurture your child’s mental health through play” at Scoıl Na Fuıseoıge and Sands Youth Centre – “play builds friendships, health & wellbeing, resilience, communities.
“How physical activity – at St Luke’s/Brookville/Almond Star FC (Fb) and Gaeıl Chollaınn CLG – helps mental health” by producing increasing self-esteem, improved mood, reduced depression, anxiety, and stress.
“This is republican youth land! Be happy! GGRY” This is a more ambitious piece of graffiti, at least in terms of scaling the building, when compared to 2023’s GGRY on the lower wall. (“GGRY” is “Glengormley Republican Youth”.)
With bonus “Nazis out!” graffiti on a litter bin at the Valley leisure centre.
The Nestlé logo features a bird feeding its young in a nest but in this sticker the tree is dead and the bird has fallen to the ground. The QR code at the centre of the sticker takes one to a Swiss site (orghan.ch) making the case (in German) that “Nestlé exploits & kills for profit. A good product is a free product. Greenwashing against climate.”.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son (John 3:16). And, greater love hath no man but to lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13, often used in the context of military sacrifice). But local homes are for local people. (The use of a stencil is a step up in sophistication.)
The Union Flag fills the empty frame where there used to be a list of locals who died in The Belfast Blitz.
Here are three stickers/paste-ups from illustrator and artist DEID (web) in Belfast city centre.
Above: “Слава Україні!” [Slava Ukraïni!] – a Ukranian soldier in front of a field of sunflowers gives the shaka/hang loose sign.
Immediately below: MAGA red-hats with an upside-down Stars And Stripes bring to mind David Bowie’s 1997 song “I’m afraid of Americans” (youtube).
Third, below, “Do you know the traffic warden?” Last below, “The end of the West?” – Donald Trump and JD Vance berate Ukranian president Vlodomir Zelenskyy in the White House in February, 2025 (PBS).
Castlebrooke Developments – the company behind the TriBeCa plan (for the TRIangle BEside the CAthedral) – will not renew applications for plans approved back in 2020. The slow/non-existent pace of development – a phenomenon that goes by the naming “planning blight” – has led the Cathedral Quarter Trust to consider buying some of the buildings from Castlebrooke, some of which have been vacant since 2000 (BelTel).
Here is a small selection of pieces from this year’s Hit The North (2025). (For complete coverage, see the map of Hit The North festivals.)
Politics of any sort rarely intrudes (see the 2019 Lyra McKee piece, which is still present in Kent St) but there were two pieces about the current devastation of Gaza were included, one by JMK with the caption “I Stand With Kneecap” and another by Conor McClure with the title “Know Their Names”.
Above and immediately below: “Make Art For Money” and “Picashso” by Luck (ig). Descriptions of the pieces in each photo are interposed below.
An eye containing a reflection of the Sunflower bar by My Dog Sighs (web), and a seated painter by Sanchai (ig).
“Stand By Your Trans” by Mel Carroll (web), “Wonder Day” by Jacky Sheridan (web), and a smiling face by SillyMe (ig) , in front of BUST’s “Dry Gin” from 2022 and a fox by Annatomix from 2023.
“You Are The Generation That Will Free Ireland – Join the republican socialist youth movement”, “Drop the rents”, “There is nothing normal about the PSNI – controlled by MI5, political policing, collusion/coverup’s, abuse of powers” – IRSP (web) stickers in Gardenmore Road, Twinbrook, Dunmurry,
Derry native Nell McCafferty was commemorated by a new mural in the Maiden City, launched on International Women’s Day (March 8th), 2025, and the annual Femme Sesh event was also dedicated to McCafferty (ig | Derry Journal).
McCafferty died last year (2024) after a long career as a journalist and activist (BBC). “Goodnight, sisters” was her parting phrase at the end of her segments on The Women’s Programme, which aired on RTÉ between 1983 and 1986 (Journal).
Here is RTÉ footage of Nell and Marian Finucane on the Late Late in 1991 and in 1980.
The mural was painted by Peaball (web) on a gable in Lisfannon Park and is visible from Lecky Road. The portrait of McCafferty appeared on the cover of (the Penguin Ireland edition of) her autobiography Nell.
Extramural Activity 