Hope, Change, Progress, Obey

Shepard Fairey used Mannie Garcia’s AP photo of Barack Obama for his ‘Hope’ poster of the 2008 US Presidential election (WP). The three-quarter profile, faraway look and four-tone shading have been repurposed for the board, shown above, in east Belfast: a boy gazes beyond Samson and Goliath, backgrounded by a sunburst: “Dream, Seek, Achieve, Educate, Achieve!”

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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International Workers’ Day

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A new “historical wall feature” was unveiled by the Shared History Interpretive Project (SHIP) on the outside of the Dockers Club in Pilot Street in Sailortown. The new piece is a montage of about 60 images of vintage photographs, a census form, and posters of industrial life. In the top-middle (behind the lamppost) there can be seen an image of the board this one replaces, which featured two carters pulling away a heavy load, similar to the carter in the image above. Another addition in the new work is the inclusion of Billy McMullen (1888-1982) and John Quinn (1876-1935) alongside Winifred Carney (1887-1943), James Connolly (1868-1916), and Jim Larkin (1876-1947). Both McMullen and Quinn are Belfast trades unionists. Quinn’s headstone in Milltown Cemetery was featured previously, in Forgotten In Life, Remembered In Death. More information about all five, as well as photographs of dockers and of the unveiling, can be found at the SHIP web site.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02573 X02574 X02575 “Sharing more than a century of north Belfast’s industrial and maritime heritage” was officially unveiled on Friday 30th January 2015 by Jack O’Connor, General President “SIPTU” and Jimmy Kelly Irish regional secretary “Unite The Union” in the presence of Belfast’s First Citizen, Lord Mayor Councillor Nichola Mallon. Main sponsor Heritage Lottery Fund and generous support from Fyffes, United Molasses, Unite the Union, SIPTU, Unison. a fine fine meal gallaghers snuff itgwu obu the mission to seafarers elders travel liverpool park drive tall ships may day one big union itgwu irish transport general workers

At The Boundary

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The Bawnmore area lies just beyond the border of Belfast, north of the city council along the Shore Road. While the area has seen many large retail chains erect stores over the last few decades, the local businesses have closed. Above, the Boundary Bar, which was burnt out in 2007, now with fake window dressing; below, Paul’s newsagents around the corner in Mount Street.

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Surviving The Titanic

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Here are two final images from the south side of the Donegall Road bridge over the Victoria Street line, one about Titanic and the other about locals awarded the MBE.

“I was in Lifeboat 13. I always remember that. My father was waving to us and talking to a clergyman, the Rev. Carter. The Titanic went in the ice and I heard three bangs. Before we hit, there had been terrific vibrations from the engines during the night as the ship was really racing over the sea. As the lifeboat pulled away we heard cries from the people left on the Titanic and in the water and explosions in the ship. There were lots of bodies floating … We were in the lifeboat nine hours. I kept looking in the water for my father and when we reached New York we went to the hospitals to see if he had been picked up.” Mrs. Charlotte Collier

How many people survived the Titanic is one of the most frequently asked questions regarding the history of this legendary ship. Of the 2,228 passengers and crew members who set sail, only 705 survived the Titanic.

See previously: Titanic Lifeboat | The Titanic Story and various other Titanic murals

1. Belfast Blitz #2
2 & 10. The Thread Of History (weavers)
3 & 9. Work Organises Life
4. In The Wars (Korea)
5  & 8. Surviving The Titanic
6. The Door Opens And Lets The Future In (Carnegie Library)
7. The Beautiful Blues (Linfield football)

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X01850 X01853 X01844 disaster great loss of life buckingham palace “Being a man or a women is a matter of birth. Being a man or women who makes a different is a matter of choice.” Tommy Wilson, MBE – for service to the community; Rita Mills MBE – for service to the civil service

Hillock Of The Grey Calf

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The Tullygarley mural in Larne, originally painted by Caroline Jeffrey, has been replaced with a computer-generated version reproducing most of the images. The bleaching green is gone; the Black Arch has been added, as has part of the mural that was on this site three generations of murals ago: God Save The Queen.

From the info-board for the previous version, included below:

“Tullygarley” means “Hillock of the Grey Calf” – thus the grey calf grazing with the cows.

The 36th Ulster Division – In September 1914 the Ulster Division was formed from the Ulster Volunteer Force which raised thirteen battalions for the three Irish regiments in Ulster.

Bleaching Green – Linen laid out in fields to bleach. The Bleaching Factory interior depicts the Bleaching process. (The building is currently derelict.) Blue Flax Flowers are the national floral emblem of Northern Ireland.

Local Primary School, Inver and Larne, known locally as “the Bridge”, as it looked in the 1930’s with the Inver River running through it. The bridge that the school was named after no longer exists.

Linen Factory of Glyn [Glynn] Road (no longer exists, site of abandoned garage) with inset depicting workers with weaving machines (circa 1924).

The old Tullygarley playground (mural site) with the Fountain in the foreground, and rows of houses on either side (Glynn Road and South Circular Road).

Sun Laundry Van. Sun Laundry showing people working inside (now Rea’s Furnishings, Bank Road).

Larne Lough – it is an area of special interest, a special protection area and a Ramsar site in order to protect the wetland environment.

SS Clyde Valley – launched in July 1886. Was used in 1914 to transport arms from Hamburg to Larne.

Roseate Tern – Larne Lough is the only breeding colony in Northern Ireland for the Roseate Tern, one of the UK’s rarest birds.

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Vótaí Do Gach Saoránach Éıreannach

“Paul Maskey supports votes for ALL Irish citizens.” Eligibility for voting in the Presidential election is based on eligibility for voting in Dáıl elections, which requires being a resident in a Dáıl constituency. As such, non-residents – whether in Northern Ireland or elsewhere – are not eligible. The matter was among those take up by the recent Constitutional Convention and a reply from the government is expected by the end of May (WP). Maskey is the incumbent for West Belfast in May’s Westminster election.

On the railings of the shuttered O’Connor’s/Rebel’s Rest, Falls Road, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Road To Equality

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The road to equality is long and winding and goes through Andersonstown’s Derrin Pass. The junction is full of small board depicting Gaelic games, Irish culture, and landscape drawings, as well as exhortations towards equality — see the corresponding entry in the Peter Moloney Collection.

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Standing Together Against Racism

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Anti-racism board on Sınn Féın’s Andersonstown office.

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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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East Of Carrick

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The town of Eden, on the outskirts of Carrickfergus, is defended by the walls of Carrickfergus castle and the arms of the UDA. For the previous version of this board, see Loyalist Eden.

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A Woman’s Place Is Everywhere

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“The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes. A women is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform. Women who seek to be equal with men lack ambition.” This past Saturday (2015-03-08) was International Women’s Day. The board above (on one of the Donegall Road bridges) features the Westinghouse ‘We Can Do It!’ poster (often mistaken for Rosie The Riveter) (WP) though here with a women’s liberation badge on her collar (shown in large size on the right). She is between images of women at work. See also: The Home Front.

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