These two images are from outside the IRSP offices on the Falls Road at Donegall Road. The idea of painting electrical and other utility boxes (Visual History) started with street art on boxes in the city centre and has now spread into CNR areas. This one (above) appears to have been left incomplete, at least compared to the one around the corner in St James’s Park – see the Paddy Duffy Collection.
39 Allied divisions – 12 of them British – participated in the Normandy Landings – officially “Operation Neptune” – that took place on June 6th, 1944; in planning for the operation, the original “D-Day” was June 5th, but bad weather postponed it until the following day, when 160,000 troops stormed the beaches of the Bay Of The Seine. By the end of August, Paris had been liberated, and by the following May, victory in Europe had been achieved. 2024 was the eightieth anniversary of D-Day and 2025 the eightieth anniversary of VE Day, on May 8th.
This D-Day board and VE Day mural are in Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Also included below is a WWI memorial electrical box opposite, though as can be seen from the board (immediately below) the ‘graveside mourner’ silhouette is becoming a generic symbol of lost UK forces.
The large Miriam Daly board in Oakman Street was temporarily taken down while symbols and slogans to mark the fiftieth anniversary (“1974-2024”) of the creation of the INLA on December 8th, 1974 (WP) were mounted.
The wall was completed by early December, 2024, and the roll of honour added in the top-left corner by the end of the month. Those listed are: Hugh Ferguson, Danny Loughran, Brendan McNamee, Miriam Daly, Ronnie Bunting, Noel Little, Jim Power, Matt McLarnon, Joe Craven, Paul “Bonanza” McCann, Thomas “Ta” Power, John O’Reilly, Mickey Kearney, Emmanual Gargan, Gino Gallagher, John McColgan, Patrick Campbell, Christopher “Crip” McWilliams, Harry O’Hara, Barry “Bar” McMullan, Martin McElkerney, James McWilliams. The last five post-date the Agreement, starting with Patrick Campbell, who died in 1999 at the hands of drug-dealers in Dublin (Irish Times | Bel Tel).
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”” Isaiah 43 continues: “When you pass through the waters I will be with you … When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched.” Thus, although the text is addressed to Jacob/Israel and the lion is a symbol of Jacob’s son Judah, whose eponymous tribe later gives its name to the Jews, Christians interpret it more generally as a promise to all believers.
In this way, this new board at Rehoboth Evangelical Mission in Mount Vernon is perhaps in the same tradition as the previous board, with its quote from John 11 (in the New Testament) promising that believers shall never die (X04693).
The inclusion of the flag of modern Israel which dates back to the Zionist movement in the late 1800s, however, gives this board a political edge, seeming to make it a token of support for Israel in its current conflict with Hamas and attack on the Gaza Strip. (The roaring lion and the lightning also give a sense of physical power.) As such, it would be (to our knowledge) the first printed board in support of Israel and an advance over the more typical flying of the Israeli flag.
Hill & White (2007 – paywall) begin their article with a survey of newspaper articles (including this free piece in Salon) about the flying of Israeli flags in Northern Ireland in 2002, explaining the practice as a response to the flying of Palestinian flags during the Second Intifada (p. 33) and an expression of admiration for Israeli’s use of physical force against its minority population (p. 37). The first appearance of an Israeli flag in the Peter Moloney Collection is from 2006, at a republican bonfire site.
If the Rehoboth board is counted as religious rather than political, the most sophisticated graphical expression of PUL support for Israel is the small paste-up seen in Ulster Supports The People Of Israel. (There is also implicit support for Israel in the board in Peter’s Hill to John Henry Patterson, which includes amongst his other exploits – including Operation Lion – his role as Godfather Of The Israeli Army.)
“With voice, pen or hand we will defend our land.” David (Davy) Patterson (12-10-1955 – 03-01-2019) was a member of the 1st East Belfast Rangers Supporters Club (Fb) and Albertbridge Glentoran Supporters Club (Funeral Times).
“Fáılte chuıg otharlann Al-Shıfa – hathaınmníodh R.V.H. i gcuımhne ar na foırne leıghıs agus ar na hothaır ar fad a maraíodh le linn chınedhíothú Iosrael sa Phalaıstín in 2023. R.V.H. renamed in memory of all medical staff and patients murdered during Israel’s genocide in Palestine in 2023.”
al-Shifa hospital is in Gaza City, Gaza. It was closed on April 1st (2024) after the hospital was raided (for a second time) by the IDF (WP).
The placard was mounted by BDS Belfast in March (Fb). The “Occupation no more” sticker on the adjacent pole is from the 1916 Societies (web).
“Beır bua – It is the responsibility of the living to keep alive the memory of the dead.” This is the second ‘Working Class Heroes’ piece in Ballymurphy. The other, from 2014, features Tommy “Toddler” Tolan, who appears here to the left of the phoenix.
The plaque on the right reads “This mural was unveiled by Johnny Doc and Maureen Tolan, 5th November, 2023.” There is video of the launch on Facebook, which contains a reading of the names of all the people pictured from the 1m 57s mark onwards.
This new piece from Belfast One BID is full of literary references (web). The blackberries (top left of the image above) are perhaps for Seamus Heaney, and the kites (bottom right of the image above) are perhaps for John Hewitt. Comment/Get in touch if you can identify others.
Below the Linen Hall library in Fountain Street, Belfast city centre.
Part of the most recent development of the upper streets in the Village was not to rebuild the two rows of houses on Ebor and Nubia/Moltke streets and in their place construct a park – the Village Green, and now officially the “Ruby Murray Village Green” – and playground. The board on the outside railings make the park a “community park of remembrance” for WWI, showing an Ulster Banner with a Union Flag in the canton. (Seen previously in The Village Green Preservation Society.)
There is also a memorial to “loved ones and friends”, “volunteers, defenders & civilians” of the South Belfast UVF (though there is 36th (Ulster) Division emblem in the corner!) who were “cruely taken away from us by republican scum”: Dinah Campbell, Francis Campbell, Alexander Scott, Frankie Smith, Stevie McCrea, John Hanna, Sammy Mehaffy, William Kingsberry, Jackie Campbell, David Poots.
A new tribute to UDA assassin Stevie “Top Gun” McKeag has been put in place in the lower Shankill, replacing the flat-capped version of 2016.
The main-streaming of McKeag continues with this new display: in the previous version he was presented in soldierly garb but as a soldier of the UDA; now, one would be forgiven for thinking that McKeag was a soldier in the British Army, given that the “military commander”‘s beret is now green (rather than grey) and now adorned by a poppy (rather than the UFF star), both complementing the commando-style sweater he is wearing. He is also being mourned by band leaders in ceremonial dress, such as is worn by the Royal Regiment Of Scotland (dress regulations pdf) when serving as equerries to the royal family.
In the right-hand side-wall, the UDU, the poppies, and the graveside mourners are used to put McKeag’s actions in the context of resistance to Home Rule and the British Army’s role in the Great War. McKeag killed at least a dozen Catholics between 1990 and 1998 (WP). He is shown here smiling.
Not only does this display replace the previous display, but the paint from previous murals (and perhaps a layer of plaster) was removed, until the original mural on the wall, of “King Rat” (D01005), was reached. It then appears that the new display was mounted on top of this. The following image is from May 15th:
Extramural Activity 