Murals and street art in support of the NHS have been painted on walls all over the province in neighbourhoods on both sides of the religious divide. The chalk drawing above (“NHS Forever”) is in Oceanic Avenue in CNR north Belfast, next to the United Irishmen mural.
The Siege Of Derry began in June 1689 when King James II was rebuffed with cries of “No surrender!” It lasted 105 days, during which about half of the townspeople died. Part of the siege equipment was a boom placed across the River Foyle about halfway between Derry and Culmore. Five ships took part in ending the siege. Shown in this new Tullyally mural (by Glen Molloy) is the Dartmouth, which attacked the shoreline besiegers at Culmore so that three small ships could bring in provisions – the Mountjoy and Phoenix approaching the boom and the Jerusalem hanging back until success was assured. They were accompanied by a longboat from the Swallow, filled with sailors who with “hatchets and cutlasses” were “hewing and hacking away at the boom” (Witherow at Library Ireland) so that it could be broken by Mountjoy.
The outside of Creggan community centre (managed by the Old Library Trust) has been decorated (by UVArts) with a big “thank you” to “all our workers” – particularly nurses, binmen, and postmen – who have continued providing public services during the coronavirus pandemic.
Valerie Hobson, star of movies, television, and theatre in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, was born in Larne in 1917 but grew up in and around London. Here she is as (the adult) Estella in the 1946 adaptation of Great Expectations (youtube). Her second marriage was to John Profumo (he of the Profumo Affair) but chose to stay with him. She died in 1998 (Independent obit).
The mural of Hobson is in Point Street, Larne, by Visual Waste (tw | ig).
The civic spirit of Bedfordshire’s Captain Tom Moore has been celebrated in murals across the UK, including this one by Blaze FX in Clonduff. Moore attempted to raise funds for the NHS by doing laps around his garden with his walker in advance of his hundredth birthday. He originally aimed at raising 1,000 pounds but ended up raising 30 million after the effort went viral.
This is Glen Molloy’s (Fb) contribution to the public support for NHS staff during the coronavirus pandemic. The mural is in the Tullyally area of Londonderry, near Altnagelvin hospital.
DJ and remixer Andrew Weatherall died in February. He was most famous for his work on Primal Scream’s Screamadelica album in 1991. The mural above is by Glen Molloy (Fb), who also recently did Prince Of Peace Line. Another mural to Weatherall was painted in Edinburgh by Shona Hardie.
Coronavirus places ordinary people such as health-care workers and employees of essential businesses in extraordinary times. This new Mount Vernon mural thanks NHS staff by depicting them as supermen and -women in disguise.