CNR

Cuımhníonn Doıre

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For many years there were portraits of the hunger strikers (either the 10 deceased from 1981 or the 12 from the 70s and 80s) along the long wall in Bishop St Without – see 2009, 2004, and 1998 (before that time the wall was divided into a number of panels for a variety of republican imagery – see 1984 and 1982) but in the portraits – which were on boards – soon started coming off and over the next decade the wall began to fade and become covered in graffiti (as can be seen in Street View). For the 40th anniversary, the deceased hunger strikers were restored to the wall, as shown here: “40th anniversary of the 1980-1981 hunger strikes. Rededication of mural, by the Bogside and Brandywell Monument Committee.”

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Shared History

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New panels of quotes and information – apparently under the title the ‘Wall History Project’ – have been added to the previous row of vintage images of the area (the “Peacewall Reimaging Project” (image below) | Derry Journal), telling personal stories of life during the Troubles including positive interactions with British soldiers and RUC officers.

The “peace” wall in question runs along the top of the Fountain in Londonderry along Bishop Street WIthout. (The street was also “settled’ by the construction of a senior citizens’ home, Alexander House.)

“The spoken words scattered across this peace wall are those of local women who have endured the Troubles in the City and continue to live in the shadow of its legacy. It gives a platform to all too long silenced voices, to share real real life experiences, memories and hopes for the future in a divided society. During lockdown, a group of women who have transcended division for years through the Bogside & Brandywell Initiative’s Peace Barriers Programme continued to connect on Thursday evenings via Zoom. The craic was 90, there was laughter, tears, words of encouragement, banter and good old Derry/Londonderry slagging.”

An image in Bishop’s Gate, seen in The Past Is A Foreign Country, is perhaps part of the original installation.

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“This Shared History Panel Initiative was officially launched by Mayor of Derry & Strabane, Councillor Elisha McCallion and Dr Adrian Johnston, Chairman, International Fund for Ireland, 12-12-2015. … This initiative is a symbolic display of what can be achieved when community groups and residents work together.”

The Big Plastic Pledge

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The Foyle Maritime Festival encourages people to pledge to reduce their use of plastics, so that the amount of plastic entering the seas and waterways is reduced. London-/Derry was host to the ships sailing in the Clipper 2022 Race in July and to accompany the festival, Derry City & Strabane Council had two murals painted by Peaball (ig) at Foyleview apartments. The Council had a competition to name the seal; the winner was “Ronan” or “Rónán” meaning “little seal” in Irish (ig video). The octopus does not appear to have a name.

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Ban Plastic Bullets Now!

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The United Campaign Against Plastic Bullets organised a march on July 16th, from Divis to the middle Falls, ending in Islandbawn Street with the launch of a new mural commemorating 17 victims of rubber or plastic bullets (Irish News). (Belfast Media has a gallery from the march.) Amnesty International last year released a report on the continued use of Attenuating Energy Projectiles (AEPs).

“Seeking justice for victims of rubber and plastic bullets. Plastic bullets = murder, main & mayhem”

For the previous plastic bullets board in Islandbawn Street, see Plastic Death.

Francis Rowntree, Tobias Molloy, Thomas Friel, Stephen Geddis, Brian Stewart, Michael Donnelly, Stephen McConomy, Paul Whitters, Julie Livingstone, Henry Duffy, Carol Ann Kelly, Norah McCabe, Peter Doherty, Peter McGuinness, John Downes, Keith White, Seamus Duffy.

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End Internment Of Jason Ceulemans

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Jason Ceulemans was sentenced to ten years with five years to be served on supervised licence in 2014 for possession of an explosive. He had his licence revoked in June after attending an Easter commemoration which, according to Saoradh, he had permission to attend (Irish News | Saoradh).

The graffiti in support of his release is in Anne Street, Derry. There was also graffiti in Creggan – see Creggan 75 and Central Drive – and the Brandywell.

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The Oasis

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According to a history of Brown’s Square, the area was known as “the oasis” during WWII on account of its 3 dance-halls and 22 pubs (Religion, Riots And Rebels). As with so much publicly-funded art (though we cannot find any provenance for this art) it depicts Belfast in the “good old days” – that is, before the Troubles, which produced the so-called “peace line” dividing west Belfast.

In this case of Brown’s Square, the area was further desolated in anticipation of a planned ring road (formally to be known as the Belfast Urban Motorway). the plan produced only the subterranean “Westlink” that cut Brown’s Square in half. The images in today’s post are in Townsend Street, (these are from below the security gates; there are others above it). Before the construction of the Westlink, which opened in 1981, Townsend Street was considered the western border, and part of Brown’s Square. John Gilbert’s photographs at the Belfast Archive Project show the area in the mid-seventies, when much of it had been abandoned but prior to construction.

The Boys Brigade are shown parading in front of Townsend Presbyterian which held its last service in September and is being handed over to the Ulster Orchestra (Belfast Media) (see previously On The Other Side for stained glass windows inside the church). The Brown’s Square school was at the junction of Brown’s Square (the street) and Melbourne Street.

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Still No Inquest, Still No Justice

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A march took place this past Saturday (July 9th, 2022) to mark the 50th anniversary of the Springhill-Westrock massacre, in which five people were killed by the British Army. A new inquest was directed by the AG in 2014 but has been repeatedly delayed; it is scheduled to begin next year (Belfast Live).

The march was organised by the Springhill-Westrock Campaign (Fb); it began at the memorial plaque in Springhill and ended at the memorial garden in Westrock (Irish News). See also Keep On Praying.

The mural shows the pre-fab aluminium bungalows built in Westrock in 1949.

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