PUL

Sons Of The Somme

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“For your tomorrow, we gave our today.” On either side of the central text are “8th battalion RIR” and the emblem of the 36th Division. The East Belfast regiment of the (1912) Ulster Volunteers became the 8th battalion of the Royal Irish Rifles and joined the 107th brigade in the 36th Division.

In the corners of the tarp above is the emblem of the Sons Of The Somme flute band, Johnstone (west of Glasgow) (Fb). The tarp is on the (closed) Belvoir Bar on the Newtownards Road. For the “property of East Belfast UVF” stencil and the plaque at the bottom, see Not For Sale.

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Community Care Staff

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The “Pilgrims” mural on the Newtownards Road has been replaced with an almost-identical representation on boards. As far as we know, this is the fourth instance of this design. Other instances of this mural are: Mersey St c. 1997-2007 (T00240); Tamar St (c. 2002-2005) (M02337); a small version above Cheepers c . 2006 (M02920); and the previous version in this spot on Newtownards Road, 2011-2022 (X00905). The existing mural was significantly faded; the companion “Elementary Right” mural on the other side of the Newtownards Road is less faded but (as can be seen in the final image, below) the paint is peeling away in places.

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Single Drumbeat

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The last major weekend of marching season occurs this weekend with marches by the Royal Black (web) lodges. These signs from earlier in the season — “Single drumbeat only beyond this point”, “Single drumbeat ends” — were posted along Shore Road at the stretch in front ot St Mary’s Star Of The Sea Catholic church. “Respect – Heritage – Culture” signs are then posted down as far as the Whitehouse Workingmen’s Club. You can check the Parades Commission for times and routes of parades.

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Locked Vault

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Here is a gallery of images from the now locked-up and boarded-up (and over-grown) Vault building, formerly the Belfast Met, awaiting demolition and redevelopment as housing. The images below move from left to right beginning with a piece that has not been featured before (outlines of human figures, with hearts on their chests); for the others, see Vault Guard Cat | Show Some Love | Build Communities | Vaulty Towers | In Bloom | Bizarre Bazaar.

See also: The Vault Is Empty | Do You Own A Giant Building?

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Dockers’ Rest

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This is the Titanic Quarter version of Terry Bradley’s (ig) painting Dockers’ Rest, realised in mural form by Friz (ig) at the Titanic museum’s “destination bar” Hickson’s Point (Titanic Belfast) which is named after the (pre-H&W) yard of Robert Hickson (Belfast Titanic Society).

Since this piece was created, in 2019, another version has been created in 2022 by DMC on Lanark Way – see Sailortown Dockers.

For a Sailortown pub still in operation, see McMahon’s.

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Repent

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The graffiti on the bottom part of the New Life City Church (web) mural on the west Belfast “peace” line has been painted out and this mild wild-style “repent” added.

New Life murals in the area go back to at least 1997 and one on this stretch of the wall goes back to 2004 – see The Dividing Line Of Hostility.

Update, July 2014: “Show kindness” illustrated with a handshake has been added

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Orkan Gairdens

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The application form for a dual-language street sign is completely agnostic as to which language (in addition to English) should go on the street sign. Based on news reports (including, recently, one home-owners complaint that such a sign would lower property values – BelTel) and our impression from tramping the streets, Irish (Gaeilge) is by far the most commonly requested language, but there are a few that include Ulster Scots; previously we recorded Heichbrea Airt in Castlereagh, and to that can now be added the sign shown above in the Woodvale: “Oregon Gardens” / “Orkan Gairdens”. (Please get in touch if you know of others.)

Ards & North Down council has just approved its own dual-language policy; like the old Belfast policy, one third of householders must sign the initial petition and two-thirds must respond positively to the subsequent survey of the street (News Letter).

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We Will Remember Them

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The UVF (A company, 1st battalion, platoon 4) mural in Glenwood Street was in the news last week after Jude Whyte of the Victims And Survivors Forum (web) drew attention to it because of its inclusion of some members of the Shankill Butchers (Irish News). The gang-members included in the plaque are given in a previous post – Platoon IV.

Some outlets (e.g. Sunday World) are reporting that the plaque is new but, while a few names of platoon have volunteers been recently added – Nesbitt, Orr, and Black – the plaque, including the names of various members of the gang, has been on the wall since 2017.

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Love The Brotherhood

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This entry is an update to 2022’s Upward which showed the new arch in Denmark Street (the north side of the lower Shankill estate). To each side of the arch has since been added a quote from scripture: on the outside, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel – Psalm 41 v. 13”, and on the inside “Love the brotherhood, fear God, and honour the King – [1st] Peter 2 v. 17”

The ‘Platinum Jubilee’ panel has been replaced with the image from the other side of the ‘Faithful Unto Death’ stained glass that is in Schomberg House (see Our Murdered Brethren), and it has been replaced with an image King Charles III.

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