Author: Extramural Activity

Conor’s Corner

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03026 2015-09-06 Conor Head Painting+

William Connor (later William Conor) was born in the Old Lodge area of Belfast (in 1881) close to the location of the new bronze statue shown in today’s images, which is at the corner of Northumberland Street and Shankill Road, replacing the UVF/Shankill Protestant Boys (see M02457). The info board (shown below) describes his methods in capturing the Belfast street scenes for which he is most famous: “Conor was developing a spontaneous drawing technique by recording quick impressions, and it soon became a habit for him to go out into the streets with a newspaper, which contained loose leaves from his sketchbook. When he saw anything of interest he leant against a lap post or wall, took out his newspaper as though he were simply reading the sports results and sketched away.”

For more info, see the project’s web site. For images of many of Conor’s paintings, see ArtNet. For images of the sculpture in progress, see Lönze’s site and the project’s Facebook page.

Officially launched 2015-09-26

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X03026 X02954 X02955 X02956 X02957 X02958 Painter William Conor PRUA RHA ROI OBE (1881-1968) was born in Fortingale Street and developed many of his renowned paintings in this area known as Conor’s Corner. J. Wilson Conor’s work on display: Going to the Mills (1914, Crumlin Road, Belfast), Riveting, Lamp-post Swinging (1957, Belfast), The Twelfth (1918, Wellington Place, Belfast), Two Men Watching Lambeg Drummers, Digging. Sculpture & Concept: Holger C. Lönze, Cork. Architectural Design: Robert Morrow, Belfast. All images by William Conor collection ulster folk and transport museum

Cross & Crane

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02989 2015-09-05 Flora St 36th Ulster main+

Samson and Goliath, the cranes of the Harland & Wolff shipyard in east Belfast, stand alongside crosses on the burial grounds of the 36th (Ulster) Division in Flanders (though Cave Hill might be in the background) in this Flora Street mural in east Belfast. UVF flags fly overhead. One of the cranes can be seen in the background of the wide shot, below.

On the headstone in the front-middle is written “Francis Lemon 1916”, perhaps this Francis Lemon, from Ballymacarrett, who died on July 2nd: FindAGrave | IWM.

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How Nobly They Fight And Die

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Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.’ King George V”. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Thiepval (Ulster Tower) and on the Cenotaph in Belfast (WP).

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Reclaim The Republic

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02987 2015-09-03 Poblacht Na hEireann+

The masthead of the 1916 proclamation declaring a “Provisional Government of the Irish Republic” to the “People of Ireland” is faithfully reproduced in this éırígí stencil, along with busts of Padraıg Pearse and Tom Clarke. Pearse, Clarke, and the other signatories will likely be familiar faces in the months leading up to Easter 2016, which is at the end of March, and the anniversary of the date itself, April 24th, 1916.

See also this entry featuring a fly-paper reproduction of the 1916 Proclamation: Brotherhoods.

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Stewart’s Yard

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02988 2015-09-03 Stewarts Yard+

As the sign says, the area of what is now an Iceland supermarket on the Shankill Road was, at the time of World War I, a training ground for the Ulster Volunteers. The sign was erected to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the force, which then became the Ulster Volunteer Force which served in the war. “On the first day of enlistment for the West Belfast UVF, volunteers assembled at Stewart’s Yard in the Shankill Road. They were addressed by Colonel T. E. Hickman, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton and a senior UVF figure who had become the Recruiting Officer for the whole of Ulster. Joining Hickman were James Craig MP, plus Stewart Blacker Quin, who was the Unionist candidate for West Belfast and the commander of the 1st Battalion West Belfast UVF.” (Richard S. Grayson, Belfast Boys: How Unionists and Nationalists Fought and Died Together in First World War, p. 12) “The day following the opening of enlistment for the Division, 360 men assembled at the same yard, where after being presented with a box of cigarettes, they marched to the railway station to board trains for Donard Camp near Newcastle. These men became the corps of the 9th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles.” (Bygone Days)

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A Bottle Of Wine & Patsy Cline

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02986 2015-09-03 Patsy Cline+

Gerard ‘Mo Chara’ Kelly painted these three images of Patsy Cline in the back garden of a Springhill neighbour. Cline died in 1963 at age 30; the three panels show different stages of her short career: the first shows her in cowboy gear, before turning to pop music, the second is based on a 1957 publicity shot for her new label, Decca, and the third shows her in 1961. Her cover of Don Gibson’s Sweet Dreams was released as a single in the wake of her death.

Here is video of Patsy singing Willie Nelson’s Crazy and, below that, Marsha Thornton doing the song from which today’s title comes:

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Alternative Transport

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Black taxis were first brought from England to Belfast in 1970 by locals who wanted to provide an alternative, and locally-based, transport system to augment the Citybuses which were sometimes cancelled and sometimes burned out. “West Belfast Taxi Association. Providing Belfast with a public transport system for over 40 years/ A Dhıa deán trocaıre ar a nanamacha.”

The board above commemorates eight drivers who were killed during the troubles: “Dedicated to the memory of Michael Duggan 12/11/75, Jim Green 5/5/77, Harry Muldoon 31/10/84, Paddy McAllister 26/8/86, Caoımhín Mac Brádaıgh 16/3/88, Thomas Hughes 19/7/91, Hugh Magee 10/10/91, Paddy Clarke 2/2/92. Murdered in the service of their community.”

French documentary about black taxi drivers.

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X02905 community interest company WBTA divis flats st peters

The Truth Will Out

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Calls for “truth” and “justice” concerning the killing in August, 1971, of 11 people from Ballymurphy, by the 1st Parachute Regiment during Operation Demetrius, the beginning of internment.

The final three panels (panels 16-18) of the ‘murdered’ follows to the right of the Ballymurphy board. (These are new additions, as compared with 2011.) They are then followed by the final board, to the WBTA.

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“11 people in west Belfast from the Greater Ballymurphy neighbourhood were murdered by the British Army as internment without trial was violently carried out on August 9th, 1971. Proper police investigations were never undertaken and one has served a day in prison for causing these deaths. The familys of those murdered deserve and demand the truth be told by the state about its policies and actions of those who carried them out.”

Collusion Untried

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Two boards about collusion in Beechmount Avenue. The first chronicles (both in words and images) alleged instances of collusion between the RUC and loyalist paramilitaries, citing John Stevens, Peter Cory, and Nuala O’Loan – pages from the 2007 O’Loan report are shown in the second, below.

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