Change Your Mind

The trio of mental-health boards above the Whiterock-Springfield junction has been spruced up with a new whitewashed background and the message “It’s OK To Talk”.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X07425 X07426 X07427 X07524 Where’s your head at? west belfast wellbeing alliance LifelinePIPSTAMHISuicide Awareness And Support GroupUpper Springfield Youth Team

Ballymurphy Massacre Interactive Tour

The starting-point for the Ballymurphy Massacre tour (below) is on the so-called International Wall (at the corner of Divis Street and Northumberland Street) but the first site is two miles away, in Springfield Close. The third stop, shown above, commemorates the lives of Joseph Corr and John Laverty, killed in separate incidents by British Army paratroopers (distinguished by their red berets) on August 11, 1971, at the top of the Whiterock Road.

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Yes I Do

“Is deontóır me [mé]. Deonú orgán. Yes I donate. Organ donation.” Dáıthí Mac Gabhann (Donate4Daithí Fb) who suffers from Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, has been looking for a donor heart since January 2018. The new mural is on the “International Wall” in CNR west Belfast; here is an image from the Whiterock Road from the 2018 campaign. Organ Donation Week runs from September 7th to 13th. Artist Tony Bell has completed a painting to support the campaign; it is on display in An Cultúrlann.

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X07662 2020-10-12 TBell Donor Painting+

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The Wide Blue Yonder

Blue is the colour of the “#Remember My Noah” campaign to get answers in the disappearance of teen Noah Donohoe ten weeks ago. Gael Force Art (Fb) took to Sliabh Dubh and put a message on the mountain, with help from some of the Donohoe relatives from Strabane (video).

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Justice For Noah

“The people of Derry support the Donohoe family.” Free Derry Corner is given blue hearts in support of the campaign for more information about the disappearance of Belfast teenager Noah. See previously: #RememberMyNoah | Wide Blue Yonder | Gloria Ab Intus.

A small photograph of John Hume, which was added to the yellow version of the “NHS keyworkers” wall after his death on August 3rd was shifted from the centre to the left-hand side.

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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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All Or Nothing!

Clare Crockett gave up her acting career (IMDb) to become a Servant Sister. She is pictured in the info board along with the five postulants who died with her during a 2016 earthquake in Playa Prieta, Ecuador. A web site has been established in her memory and a movie made about her life; there have been calls to make her a saint (Irish News). (Update, Jan 2025: Crockett is to be beatified – Irish Times)

Painted by UV Arts (tw) in Derry’s Brandywell, where she originally came from (BelTel).

“Sr Clare Crockett was born in Derry 14th November 1982. The daughter of Gerard and Margaret Crockett. During a Holy Week Retreat in Spain in the year 2000 she experienced the intensity of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection that led to a deep conversion of her life. Sr Clare entered the Servant Sisters of the House of the Mother 11th August 2001. She went to found a new community in Jacksonville, Florida in October 2006. Sr Clare took Perpetual vows 8th September 2010. In 2014, Sr Clare undertook the mission in Ecuador. She died in an Earthquake, protecting her pupils 16th April 2016. She was buried in Derry 2nd May 2016.”

“Sister Clare’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, for your Glory, that or [of] your beloved Son, that of the Holy Spirit and that of the Mother Of God, we ask that grant us the grace (mention your request in the silence of your heart) … as a sign that the life of our Sister Clare Theresa Crockett has been pleasing to you on this earth and that she is now rejoicing with you in Heaven. We ask this through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Update, 2026: the mural has been repainted.

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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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A Hunger For Knowledge

This is the Noah Donohoe mural at the bottom of New Lodge Road. Murals looking for answers in the Donohoe case have appeared in all the prominent CNR spaces: #RememberMyNoah (International Wall) | The Wide Blue Yonder (Slıabh Dubh) | Justice For Noah (Free Derry Corner) | A Heart In A Heart (mostly N Belfast)

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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Silence Is Complicity

“Don’t hand him over. Don’t play England’s game. Stop the extradition of Liam Campbell now.” Liam Campbell is wanted, for a second time, in Lithuania on charges of running guns to the Real IRA in 2006-2007. He was arrested in Dundalk in December 2016 and will appeal his extradition in January next year (Irish Times). The posters of support are from Republican Sinn Féin and the Republican Network For Unity.

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X07434 X07435 Copyright © 2020 Sabine Troendle (web | Fb)