“Community. Pride. Culture.” As part of a 2009-2010 re-imaging program, the UDA mural on Cultra Street in Tiger’s Bay was replaced with this “cut-out” tiger.
More information about the project, see tigers-bay.com.
For a picture of the former, UDA, mural, see the Peter Moloney Collection.
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Each Lord Mayor of Belfast has an official portrait which hangs in Belfast City Hall. 2011-2012 Lord Mayor Nıall Ó Donnghaıle’s takes the unusual form of a mini-mural, in the shape of a gable wall and complete with mortar lines. The portrait features a “Short Strand” street-plate (Ó Donnghaıle is from there), images of Titanic, James Connolly – a portrait was mounted at a SIPTU event in the mayor’s chambers in October 2011, after pictures of the royal family had been removed in June, protesters, and an MTV mug. The artist talks about the piece on Slugger (audio) and CultureNI has a good write-up about the process.
Below are a detail from Ó Donnghaıle’s portrait and the more typical portrait of Tom Hartley, Lord Mayor 2008-2009, which includes the bicycle he is famous for riding around town.
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The Rebel’s Rest /Scíth An Reıbılúnaıgh pub on the Falls at Cupar Street Lower has closed and been sold.
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The stained glass window above is in Cultúrlann McAdam – O’Fıaıch (cultural centre, named for two clergymen, Presbyterian Robert McAdam and Catholic Tomás Ó Fıaıch) on the Falls Road and features some of the spaces within the centre: An Ceathrú Póılí: Sıopa Leabhar Gaeılge Bhéal Feırste (Irish-language bookstore), Caıfé Feırste (café), Dánlann Dillon (Dillon Gallery).
More stained glass in the Cultúrlann: White Line
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Carl ‘The Jackal’ Frampton fights tomorrow night (2014-04-04) against Hugo Cazarez for the opportunity to fight Leo Santa Cruz for the WBC super-bantamweight title. He is managed and promoted by Barry McGuigan. Here is a 2013 video profile of Frampton by The Guardian. As he mentions in the video, Frampton (who is Protestant) married a Catholic, while McGuigan (who is Catholic, from Clones) married a Protestant.
He is featured here in the apex of the ‘Midland Boxing Club’ board in Cultra Street in Tiger’s Bay, alongside his Irish featherweight title. The board is unusual in that it is tailored to the full size of the gable wall.
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Martin O’Neill takes Neil Lennon home after his haircut at Hoops Barbers on the Falls Road. Both are from Northern Ireland – Lennon is originally from Lurgan, O’Neill from Kilrea. O’Neill was manager of Glasgow Celtic when Lennon was a player. O’Neill now manages the Republic of Ireland squad and Lennon is now (since 2010) manager of Celtic.
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The Battle of Antrim took place on June 7th, 1798, as part of the Irish Rebellion of that summer. Led in the North by the Protestant Henry Joy McCracken, the rebellion met with initial successes in smaller towns, before failing in Antrim. In the full shot, below, the British soldiers can be seen in the distance.
The board above is in the grounds of The Roddy’s, a social club named after Roddy McCorley, another Protestant member of the United Irishmen, most famous for the song written about his hanging at the bridge of Toome in 1800. (Here’s a version by Tommy Makem.)
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Mothering Sunday 2014 was yesterday, Sunday March 30th. On Saturday, when this image was taken, menfolk were out and about tracking down flowers and chocolates. This week also happens to be the one-hundredth anniversary (“céad blıaın”) of the founding of Cumann Na mBan on April 2nd, 1914, and it is being commemorated in various ways, including a new mural on Ascaıll Ard na bhFeá/Beechmount Avenue.
Cumann Na mBan was the women’s division of the Irish Volunteers and is best remembered for its role in the Easter Rising of 1916. Its members were involved in the occupation of many locations. Some, including (non-combatant) Winifred Carney, were in the GPO, while Countess Markievicz, the main figure of the mural, was in St. Stephen’s Green. (Here is an RTÉ gallery of vintage photographs, including one of Markievicz surrendering.)
The letters “Cnamb” on a rifle formed the badge of Cumann Na mBan. The Irish “Ní saoırse go saoırse na mban” means “No freedom until the freedom of women”. Below are an ‘in-progress’ shot from last week; and a close-up of the finished mural. Below these is a plain shot of the full mural.
Replaces the Fıanna Éıreann centenary, 1909-2009, in which Countess Markievicz was also featured.
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Three generations of boards at the junction of the Falls and Glen roads: from most recent to least: Pearse Jordan (“Murdered by RUC! Covered up by PSNI”), Gibraltar Three (“I nDıl Chuımhne”; this was later realized on the Divis Street International Wall, see 25 Years), and a (presumably) IRSP board (“If there is to be a revolution, there must be a revolutionary party.” [Mao Zedong]). The oldest of the three appears to be the one in the best shape. The site itself used to be the Andersonstown RUC/Army barracks.
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Protestants and the Irish language (Gaeılge) have been in the news again this week, as UUP councillors walked out of a North Down Council meeting ahead of a presentation on Protestants and Irish on Tuesday (BBC). This follows remarks by a Grand Master of the Orange Order, George Chittick, that Protestants should not learn Irish (video at BBC) prompted by the construction of a floor of the Skainos Centre for Irish-language instruction (BelTel).
The hoarding shown above (this one on the Andersonstown Road) is for a 2011 NI Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure initiative which hopes to make 4,000 people fluent in Irish by 2015. It features three Gaelic words which have passed into English – craıc, smıdıríní (smithereens) and bróg.
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Extramural Activity 