Here are three boards in Derry focused on HMP Maghaberry. The high security prison holds 1,000 prisoners and segregates loyalists and republicans, a situation described as “a festering sore” in a recent inspection. (Tele) Republicans say that the current crisis overlooks existing issues such as controlled movement and strip searches. (Irish News)
The board above, on Derry’s Racecourse Road, commemorates two hunger-strikers from Derry, Patsy O’Hara and Michael Devine, both members of the INLA; the third INLA hunger-striker was Kevin Lynch, from nearby Dungiven. The seven others who died were members of the IRA, whose political wing was Sınn Féın, while the Irish Republican Socialist Party, who sponsored this board, serves as the political face of the INLA.
Bonfire break-dancers and bouquet-throwing rioters outside the Woodbourne PSNI station, as well as a lambeg drum side-by-side with a bodhrán and “Only God can judge me”, here used (probably) as an anti-suicide message rather than as an excuse to take the law into one’s own hands.
The quote on this new board in the Lower Shankill estate – “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” – is attributed to “Margaret Mead, American Author 1901-1978”. Mead in fact was best known as an anthropologist and in particular for her study of adolescent coming-of-age in the islands of Samoa which concluded that adolescence there was not at all the stressful and confused period that it was Western teens.
In this modified ‘School’ safety sign in the lower Shankill estate, a mother and child with collarettes go to school, under the watchful eye of UFF, UYM, and UDA boards on the gable wall behind it. (In 2000, a board reading “Drumcree” was placed over “School”. See J0585)
“The way we were” written on the bog side of the walls of Derry provide a name for this mural behind Derry’s Bogside Inn. The old Rossville flats are in the top left hand corner. (Both Rossville flats and graffiti on the walls – “God made the Catholics, the armalite made us equal” – can be seen in this 1982 image (M00039) from Peter Moloney’s collection.)
The memorial garden in Mount Vernon, which previously had and Ulster Volunteers mural and UVF stone has undergone a major redevelopment this year with a new “cut-out” mural to the 36th (Ulster) Division and memorial plaques to six UVF members who died between 1974 and 2000, including (in the second image) Joe Shaw, who was shot by the UDA during the 1974-1975 feud. (For details of the killings and its aftermath, see this Balaclava Street article.) See the final image, below, for the plaque on the outside wall of the garden listing all six members.
A tarpaulin celebrating the North Down Grenadiers (Fb) flute band has been added above the Red Hand Commando panels on the front of this house in Bangor’s Whitehill neighbourhood. (Compare the image above to M06398.) The emblems of both groups are very similar, featuring a red hand with wings. As well as the RHC emblem on the front gate, there is also a stone on the left dedicated to D. Company volunteers.
Young people from the Lower Shankill pose in the style of a movie poster: “You must have dreams and goals if you are ever going to achieve anything in this world.” The info panel (shown below) incorrectly states that the board replaces a loyalist H-Block mural (of which there were two versions: yellow (M02473) | orange) and, before that, a UDU-UFF-UDA mural; these were on different walls and this board replaces only the Maze mural.
This is the second of five recently-launched boards in the lower Shankill. The first to be featured was I Am Not Resilient.
mark adair megan aiken nathan arbuthnor craig ballentine ryan baxter justin baxter darnel bell latisha brant CJ burke rabileigh crooks morgan dillon alanna flynn nathan hill brandon irvine curtis irvine marcus kane dylan kane megan mccaw simone mccormick jordan mckeag brittney mckeag kerri-lee mclaughlin jenni mclaughlin glenn mcquillan thomas mitchell jordan mullan morgan patterson lauren stewart chloe stewart becky turner craig wilson
Extramural Activity 