printed board/placard

Hope Unlocking Friendships

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“Tackle inequality – create opportunities – inspire change”. The large board shown here is in Cupar Way, near the security gates in North Howard Street, which are locked nightly between 8:30 and 6:30 a.m. (DoJ). These and the nearby Northumberland Street gates separate the lower Falls and the middle Shankill, including the young people from the Active Communities Network (web), a cross-community youth group that lobbied for increased opening hours to allow members to return home quickly after meetings (BBC).

The board was originally on Northumberland Street (Belfast Live) in the Arthur Guinness spot but is now in Cupar Way.

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Comóradh Blıantúıl Ar An Staılc Ocraıs

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Michael Devine was the last of the 1981 hunger-strikers to die, on August 20th, 1981, and although the strike was not called off until October 3rd, his death now marks the end of the strike for commemorative purposes. The 44th annual national commemoration of the strike will take place this year on the 24th, “assembling at Dunville Park” in west Belfast.

Antrim Rd/New Lodge Rd, north Belfast. For the street art on the electrical box, see Rotten And Corrupt.

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Seasaımıd Le Lıam Óg

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“We stand with Lıam Óg”, that is Lıam Óg Ó hAnnaıdh (on the left of the image above), a.k.a. Mo Chara, a member of the rap group Kneecap who appeared in court (in London) on Wednesday August 20th on “terrorism” charges and was bailed for a further month while the judge rules on a technical issue about whether the trial can go forward (BBC). (See previously The Magic Within and Seasaımıd Le Kneecap.)

The night before (the 19th) this board featuring images of the band-members and the band in its early days was unveiled on the Whiterock Road. (Video of the launch can be found on the Glór Na Móna instagram account.)

In the background is a Palestinian flag and “Saoırse don Phalaıstín” [Freedom for Palestine] is written along the bottom.

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Bua Don Phalaıstín

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The RNU mural supporting Palestine has been cleaned up to remove graffiti calling Sınn Féın “traitors and touts” (RNU Belfast Fb).

Pantridge Road, replacing the boards seen in Conscience. The poster below, criticising RNU leadership, is on the Cogús board to the left.

Update: the mural was (for a second time) vandalised and repaired (RNU Belfast Fb) and then was (a third time) vandalised with “SF traitors & touts REM Oct 07” – see below

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Nurture Your Child’s Mental Health

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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.

On the wall behind the Bobby Sands info boards and next to the Sands mural in Twinbrook.

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Ignite Tradition

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“Embrace the past. Ignite tradition. Inspire the future.” Whiterock Flute Band appear to have fallen under the influence of a public-relations consultant.

“A taste of tradition: Whiterock flute band. Est. 1962. West Belfast, Northern Ireland. New Barnsley, Moyard, Springmartin, Woodvale, Whiterock, Springfield, Highfield, Shankill.”

The Whiterock Flute Band board at the top of the Shankill has been updated to reflect the changing of the monarch – the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of Charles III – and also to mark the band’s 60th anniversary in 2022.

The memorial to Elizabeth on the left-hand side replaces the memorial to Alex Thompson (seen in 2021) which had been appended to the 50th anniversary board (A Taste Of Tradition). Thompson is included at the top of the next column, “recognition of loyal service”. The columns on either side of the emblem show photographs from the various deacdes, including the 50th anniversary celebrations. Above the doorways are the names of “members past and present” above drawings by local children of “my favourite image” and a link for the band’s music.

For close-ups, see the Paddy Duffy Collection.

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Hooded Man

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“Óglach Kevin Hannaway, Irish Republican Army, hooded man. Unbowed & unbroken. Ar dheıs Dé go raıbh a anam.”

Kevin Hannaway died in January (2025), aged 77. In 1971 he was interned (Belfast Media) and subjected, along with thirteen others, to the “five techniques” – deprivation of food/drink and of sleep, subjection to noise, prolonged stress positions, and hooding (WP) – as well as being beaten and dropped out of a helicopter (Irish Times). The ‘five techniques’ were found to constitute torture in 2021 (RTÉ) and the PSNI apologised to the victims in 2023 (BBC | Irish Legal News).

Hannaway remained a republican throughout his life and was anti-Agreement in recent years (BBC). The board in Hannaway’s honour was launched on Sunday July 13th (Fb video). The panels of the board were siezed by the PSNI during a drug raid on a home in St James’s on the 11th but returned the next day (BelTel).

“IRPWA [web]. Republican prisoners still exist! Unfinished revolution. Unbowed, unbroken.”

Hugo Street, west Belfast. For a close-up of the Pearse Jordan plaque on the left, see the Peter Moloney Collection.

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UVF English Brigade

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“English Brigade Ulster Volunteer Force.” “England and Ulster – the ties that bind.” “United we stand.”

“Let our flag run out straight in the wind/The old red shall be floated again./When the ranks that are thin shall be thinned/When the names that were twenty are ten.” [from Swinburne’s A Song In Time Of Order which was also used as a socialist song]

On the left are the words from William Blake’s poem, which also serve as the lyrics to the hymn Jerusalem.

The images along the bottom illustrate the connection between Northern Ireland and England. From left to right: Edward Carson in Liverpool in 1912; 10,00 pledges from Liverpool men; Carson addressing 100,000 people in Hyde Park, London; a banner reading “City of London supports loyal Ulster”; “Field Marshall Sir Henry Wilson opens the Ulster Tower in 1921. Sir Henry was killed by the IRA in 1922 at his home in London”; GS Cather, VC winner with the Ulster Division; evacuees to Liverpool in 1973.

Spier’s Place, middle Shankill, west Belfast, to the left of A Fisherman, An Entertainer, A Shankill Road Man.

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Republican Prisoners Still Exist!

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“Support republican political prisoners” in “Maghaberry – Portlaoise – Hydebank”. IRPWA (web) board in Ardoyne Avenue, north Belfast. For a close-up of the Saoradh call to commemorate the Easter Rising, see the Paddy Duffy collection.

See also: the same message on Divis Street, west Belfast.

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Wear Your Easter Lily With Pride

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“National Republican Commemoration Committee national Easter commemoration: assemble at Creggan shops – 2pm Monday 21st April 2025 for march to the People’s Monument — Free Derry Corner. Wear your Easter lily with pride.”

Easter Monday falls late this year – April 21st – though still not as late as it did in 1916, when it was on the 24th. The event is typically celebrated at Easter, regardless of its proximity to the 24th, though for the centenary in 2016, anti-Agreement republicans commemorated the Rising on April 24th, specifically, while others paraded at Easter (which was at the end of March).

This Saoradh (web) board calling for attendance at the national march from Creggan to the new (2022) “People’s Monument” in Rossville Street is in Hugo Street, west Belfast

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