About 100 people came out to Marine Gardens for the live broadcast of the coronation of Charles III on May 6th (Mid & East Antrim youtube), one of about nine such live-streams across Norther Ireland (Bel Tel).
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The Imperial War Museums’ ‘Living With The Troubles’ exhibition is open and free to the public (with advance booking available) at the Lambeth Road, London, location, from now until next January. The curators explain their intentions and hopes for the exhibition on youtube.
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Copyright © 2023 Peter Moloney
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“No more ‘promises’ … No more excuses … Fix it now! Wall of protest #FiftyYearsOfFailure It’s not subjective … it’s not debatable. The data doesn’t lie.”
The general concern of this campaign is persistent under-investment in Derry and the northwest. One of the placards reads carried by a protester reads, “Belfast’s economy has grown 14% since the [1998] Good Friday Agreement, Derry’s has shrunk 7%” but the complaint goes back “fifty years”, based on the approval in 1965 (BBC) and construction by 1968 of what was initially called the “New University Of Ulster” at a new site in Coleraine rather at Magee University College in Derry. The final panel of the long board includes the logo of the Derry University Group “fighting for a cross-border independent university for the north west” (tw). (1965 was also the year that Craigavon was created.)
For more on the campaign see Bel Tel | Derry Now.
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The Shankill Memorial Garden next to West Kirk Presbyterian is home to memorials to WWI (see Who Went To War And Never Returned) and the Shankill Bombing (see In The Shadow Of Death) . It has also become the site of many small memorials to local people, including volunteers in the UVF. For “S Company” see S Company, C Company.
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That is, king or queen “by the grace of God” or divine right. The first UK monarch to use the phrase was Henry V in the early 1400s and it has been used as a royal motto since then, up to and including the present-day monarchs shown on this board in the Caw, Londonderry.
On the left, the past – Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II; in the centre, the present – His Majesty King Charles III; on the right, the future – William Prince Of Wales, Baron Of [sic] Carrickfergus.
The Welsh dragon is included alongside the three flags/crests that make up the Union Flag – St George’s Cross for England, St Andrew’s Saltire for Scotland, and St Patrick’s Saltire for Ireland.
For the same trio in Newtownabbey, see Past, Present, Future.
Replaces the William MacFadzean board.
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Copyright © 2023 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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“Est 1913 Irish Citizen Army / Irish National Liberation Army Est. 1974”. The Irish Citizen Army was founded in Dublin in 1913 to protect striking workers from police violence. After taking part in the Easter Rising of 1916, however, the ICA did not participate in the War Of Independence and the Civil War. In 1974, some founding members considered reviving the “ICA” name to reflect the organisation’s “allegiance to the working class” while Costello (pictured on the right) suggested “National Liberation Army”, which was then amended to include “Irish” (History Ireland | WP | WP). MNI includes an “ICA-INLA” Starry Plough on the stairs into the New Lodge from 1989 (C00105).
The banner raised over the Liberty Hall headquarters of the ICA read “We serve neither king nor kaiser but Ireland” – the famous photograph is included in the post of the same name – but this has been updated. The Belfast version of the board, above, reads “nor Nato”, while a Derry version, below, reads “nor quisling”.
The Derry mural in the background is The Runner, part of The People’s Gallery.
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“In loving memory of our most gracious sovereign – Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022. God save the Queen.” The platinum (70th) jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, celebrated in June, 2022, was followed a short time later by her death, on September 8th. These two boards in Maldon Street, mark the two events.
Replaces a Ruby Murray board and the info board that went with the John Darren Sutton painting of King Billy in Tavanagh St.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh sıad.” Profiles of Patricia Black, Frankie Ryan, Michael Ferguson, and Sean Keenan were added in late 2021 (video of launch) to the pair of existing monuments that memorialise them in Colin/Poleglass (for which see The Undauntable Thought on Peter’s site).
Black and Ryan were IRA volunteers killed by in a premature bomb explosion near London (An Phoblacht).
Michael Ferguson and Seán Keenan were activists and Sınn Féın councillors. Both died in 2006 of cancer (Irish Times | Bel Tel).
On Pantridge Road, which runs down to Michael Ferguson roundabout (An Phoblacht).
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These are the boards at the chip shop (formerly a Spar and before that a Mace) in the centre of the Mourneview estate, Lurgan.
Above, in Mourne Road, a gallery of photographs of the Craigavon Protestant Boys (Fb) past and present, with a plaque in memory of Victor Stewart. “Our only crime is loyalty.”
Below are the images from the front of the shop, in Pollock Drive:
First/right: “When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.” The same panel was seen in Ballyclare, though for the 1st East Antrim battalion rather than the Mid Ulster brigade.
Next: A company, 1st battalion, Mid Ulster brigade UVF – Lurgan as well as Broxburn (outside Edinburgh) and Thornliebank (near Glasgow).
Next: A tribute to the Ulster Volunteers from the area: the 9th battalion Royal Irish Fusiliers joined the 108th brigade in the 36th (Ulster) Division; the 5th battalion joined the 31st brigade and the 10th (Irish) Division. This board goes back to (at least) 2011.
Next: “Believe, we dare not boast,/Believe, we do not fear/We stand to pay the cost,/In all that men hold dear.//What answer from the North?/One Law, one Land, one Throne/If England drive us forth,/We shall not fall alone!” Kipling’s poem Ulster.
The first stanza also appears in a Belfast RHC mural, and other lines from the poem have been used elsewhere: We Perish If We Yield | The Terror, Threats, And Dread.
All of the preceding pieces are UVF/PAF, but the last, high up on the left, is a UDU board in the top left of the wall, to 1 company, D battalion, South Belfast.
With thanks to Jackie Findon for today’s images.
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“Mol an óıge agus tıocfaıdh sí [encourage youth and it will flourish, or less literally, youth responds to praise].” The emblems in the corners are of two local GAA clubs “Naomh Eoın” and “Caıırınéal [Caırdınéal] Uí Dhomhnaıll” – the “Joe Cahill Annual Tournament” was held at Easter at their two pitches.
Joe Cahill joined the Fianna in 1937 and was involved in the republican movement from then until his death in 2004, including being in Tom Williams’s company in 1942, and was later a founder member and Chief of Staff of the Provisional IRA.
The new board was launched on April 4th. This is the third Joe Cahill mural on this wall – see previously Joe, Tom, Frank (2005) and Perpetual Cup (2013). The long-time plaque on the wall has been removed.
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Copyright © 2023 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Extramural Activity 