The Men From Ballyclare & District

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On 20 August 1943, second pilot Sergeant John Erskine and the Liberator crew of seven others failed to return from a convoy patrol of the west of Ireland (59 Squadron). Erksine and 28 others from WWII (and one from the Korean War) are commemorated in a new mural in Erskine Park, Ballyclare. It’s not known if the street name is connected to Sergeant John.

The left-hand portrait is of Edward Girvan, from Ballynure, who was killed on the H.M.S. Repulse, when it was attacked by Japanese aircraft and struck by torpedo bombs in the South China Sea on December 10th, 1941 (WP).

The soldier in the centre of the mural wears the emblem of the Royal Ulster Rifles, Parachute Regiment on his cap. William Johnston 7018189 and George Williamson 7022501 are listed (on the right) as riflemen in airborne battalions of the RUR, but this appears to be a reproduction of an original painting of an RUR major.

Like the WWI Ballyclare & District mural, the UDA are on the side wall – see the wide shot, below.

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Your Friends At The Corner

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Here are two images of memorials dedicated to local residents without any apparent connection to politics. The picture above shows a painting of poppies on the garden wall of Susan Davidson’s house in Tiger’s Bay, Belfast. The image below is of a plaque in Creggan, Derry, to Billy and Shiela Quigley, who died in a car cash in 2004.

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Beır Bua

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“Seize victory”. This is the third in a small series of nail-ups in Derry/Doıre using “classic” imagery, in this case, the phoenix. (Here is a representative mural from 1989: Out of the ashes arose the Provisionals). Previously: Sniper At Work  | Join The People’s Army.

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The Gravel Walks

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Poet Seamus Heaney died on this day 2013 and the gravestone erected in St Mary’s, Ballaghy, on the same day the following year. The epitaph is “Walk on air against your better judgement” from the poem ‘The Gravel Walks” in The Spirit Level.

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School Of Champions

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Olympic boxing champion (and former Ireland soccer player) Katie Taylor is currently 6-0 in her professional career. Her image is being used here as an inspiration (or warning?) to the children of Victoria nursery in the New Lodge. She was also featured in a mural outside Coláiste Feirste in west Belfast.

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Come On You Boys In Green

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New Lodge soccer club St Patrick’s (Fb) have a new mural on the New Lodge Road, painted earlier this month by Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com | tw).

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Those Who Gave Their Lives

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“We salute those who gave their lives for Irish freedom”, including James Connolly and Padraig Pearse in the 1916 Easter Rising, planned by Pearse (and others in the military committee of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB). The IRA would be formed in 1919. The mural in the wide shot was featured in Mothers & Sisters.

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The Silence Of Our Friends

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Martin Luther King is used to support the end of “complicity” in the practice of internment: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” The quote comes from King’s Steeler lecture entitled “The Trumpet of Conscience” (which was also used as the title of a 1968 collection of lectures). The Marwan Barghouti board (in Belfast) was featured previously. Both boards are from the IRPWA (Fb | web).

William St, Derry

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Athbheochan/Renewal

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The inspiration for the new installation outside Coláıste Feırste entitled “Athbheochan” (“renewal”) is the area’s previous life as the site of spinning mills, established in the 1800s to take advantage of local rivers (Forbaırt Feırste). The Bog Meadows nature reserve down beside the M1 is the only part of the Blackstaff’s flood plain that remains in an undeveloped state.

The launch was on August 11th during Féıle by Maırtín Ó Muılleoır, but the piece is also part of Irish-language festival Lıú Lúnasa (tw | web) which is going on this week. Artist Aodán Monaghan can be seen on the left in the final image of kids climbing all over the artwork.

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He Died That We Might Live

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UVF volunteer John Hanna was 19 years old when he was killed by “the enemies of Ulster” (the IRA) at his home on Donegall Road in the Village. This new board is in Prince Andrew Park, just off Donegall Road. “Always remembered by the officers and volunteers South Belfast [2nd Batt Sandy Row] UVF”.

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