“Is your private or social landlord failing to finish repairs in your home? Don’t stand alone, stand together – join the Tenants’ Union in Ardoyne. CATU Belfast. beflast@catuireland.org”
CATU – “community action tenants’ union” – was formed in 2019 and its slogan – “we only want the earth” – comes from James Connolly’s poem of the same name.
The Ulster Unionist Council organised the signing of the Covenant in September, 1912, and in January 1913 voted to bring together the militias that had been formed in various places into an Ulster Volunteer Force. One of these was a South Belfast battalion that had formed in 1912 (History Ireland). Hence, both “1912” and “1913” are given as dates for the creation of the battalion. When the Volunteers were integrated into the Ulster Division for the Great War, the South Belfast Volunteers joined the 10th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles.
Of course, the boards above and immediately below concerning the 1912/1913 Ulster Volunteers serve double duty alongside the three other boards shown here which concern the modern UVF and the current protests against Brexit/NI Protocol/Windsor Framework.
The advertising hoarding has been informally re-purposed by the UVF for several years, and its de-commercialisation is now complete with the addition of this printed board.
“Loyalist Village says No! to an Irish Sea border.” “The prevention of the erosion of our identity , our culture and our heritage. We will preserve this no matter the cost. We will not be the generation to fail Ulster.”
After WWI, the Royal Irish Rifles became the Royal Ulster Rifles (and later became part of the Royal Irish Rangers). This board prioritises WWI as the Rifles were part of the 36th Division. The hero of WWI portrayed in the central panel is William McFadzean, awarded the VC for falling on two live grenades in the trenches on July 1st, 1916. McFadzean is familiar from many previous murals both individually and in the company of other VC winners; for his family home in Cregagh, see Rubicon.
Alongside McFadzean, the hero of WWII is Blair “Paddy” Mayne, who was only briefly in the Ulster Rifles before making his name in the Parachute Unit (later, and better, known as the SAS). His many medals of honour are shown in an old Newtownards mural though he was denied the VC.
In the post of the new Sam Rockett mural in Woodvale – Essence And Space – we said that the “peace” line separating Wyndham Street from the rest of Torrens had been taken down as the area was redeveloped from roughly 2008-2012. As can be seen from this gallery of images, however, some of the infrastructure remains, particularly the school building (former site of Naíscoil Bheann Mhadaigáin (Belfast Media profile)) and the adjacent waste-ground in Torrens Crescent, which remain undeveloped. The alley to Cliftonville is gated at both ends.
These BUILD (web) boards highlight areas of waste ground in the Shankill area: “Every generation needs regeneration” (above) is next to waste ground on the Shankill Road/Boundary Street; “our children deserve more than dereliction” (below) is next to waste ground in Tennent Street; the third site (with skip) is in Townsend Street/Dayton Street; the fourth (with the tarp) is on Peter’s Hill below the new Drummer Boy mural (see Shankill Drummer and The Little Drummer Boy).
The “Pilgrims” mural on the Newtownards Road has been replaced with an almost-identical representation on boards. As far as we know, this is the fourth instance of this design. Other instances of this mural are: Mersey St c. 1997-2007 (T00240); Tamar St (c. 2002-2005) (M02337); a small version above Cheepers c . 2006 (M02920); and the previous version in this spot on Newtownards Road, 2011-2022 (X00905). The existing mural was significantly faded; the companion “Elementary Right” mural on the other side of the Newtownards Road is less faded but (as can be seen in the final image, below) the paint is peeling away in places.
The last major weekend of marching season occurs this weekend with marches by the Royal Black (web) lodges. These signs from earlier in the season — “Single drumbeat only beyond this point”, “Single drumbeat ends” — were posted along Shore Road at the stretch in front ot St Mary’s Star Of The Sea Catholic church. “Respect – Heritage – Culture” signs are then posted down as far as the Whitehouse Workingmen’s Club. You can check the Parades Commission for times and routes of parades.
Martin “Rook” O’Prey was the Belfast brigade commander of the IPLO [Irish People’s Liberation Organisation], a breakaway INLA group responsible for killing George Seawright and attacking the Orange Cross social club (WP).
There is a plaque to O’Prey in Leeson Street (M07985).
The RNU has reserved the spot to the left; the edge of the Kieran Abram board is visible on the right.
“Martin ‘Rook’ O’Prey – OC IPLO. Murdered in 1991 aged 29 by loyalist death squads in collusion with British state forces. He fought and died for Ireland. Also remembering his fallen comrades. “Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.””
“There is no lie big enough to cover the shame of jailing two innocent men #JFTC2”, in this case Brendan McConville and John Paul Wooton. Their portraits have been appearing on RNU (Fb) walls (and on Sliabh Dubh) since 2013. They are in prison, for 25-year and 18-year minimums, respectively, for the 2009 killing of PSNI Constable Stephen Carroll (BBC).
The number is arrived at by aggregating the days served by republican prisoners in Maghaberry, Hydebank, and Portlaoise (IRPWA – page contains images of all the locations in which this board was mounted).
Braemar Street, west Belfast.
“End internment by remand! 11000 days and counting. Bail denied. Seán Farrell, Davy Jordan, Kevin Murphy, Nick Donnelly, Charlie Love, Shea Reynolds, Ciaran Maguire, Gary Hayden, Sean Walsh, Damien McLaughlin, Sharon Jordan, Mandy Duffy.”
Extramural Activity 