This is the ‘yesteryear’ portion of the hoarding around waste ground on The Square, encouraging people to “Shop, live, enjoy – Ballyclare”. There are photographs of ‘McIlroy’s shop 1867’, ‘Main Street 1907’, and ‘Square in the 50’s’.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Graffiti in the Rathcoole estate, in Newtownabbey just north of Belfast, “It was Gerry [Adams]”, next to “RHC” – “Red Hand Commandos”.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The poster above – seen in east and south Belfast – has been called “racist” by the Alliance party. “What happened to local jobs for local people? Why are local skilled workers denied job opportunities? Why is outside labour being used in their place? Why are hundreds of overseas workers employed at present on higher wages? Why are they not paying UK tax? Why are they not paying national insurance?”
The poster concerns the 600 temporary jobs at H&W refurbishing the oil rig ‘Blackford Dolphin‘. According to the BBC (video) only one third of the jobs could be filled from the Northern Irish workforce. A BelTel article from November 2013 specifies that another third came from Britain and the final third from “Poland and Lithuania”.
Below: Some posters with the H&W cranes in the background, just off the Newtownards Road.
See also: Inspiring Belfast.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This vintage grocer’s signage and “Rehoboth, The Well” shopfronts are in North Queen Street, north Belfast. “Rehoboth” was the name of the well dug by Isaac after several others which got him into disputes with other land-owners. When this one proved uncontroversial he rejoiced, saying “At last the Lord has made room for us and we will flourish in the land.” (Genesis 26:22) Demolition on the site began last week.
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Copyright © 2014 Extramural Activity
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“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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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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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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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Play is the highest form of research – Albert Einstein.” The quote appears to be a common (mis-)attribution.
This is a new board celebrating the play of children, with a UDA/UFF mural in the background. The artist is Ed Reynolds (steadyhanded.com).
Previously by Ed in the lower Shankill: a full-sized Play mural.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Four (of five) panels from Main Street, Ballywalter, commemorating the troops who went to France “on October 15th, 1915” and who died in the Great War (“The Last Post” is played by Ballywalter flute band at Ballywalter War Memorial, perhaps at its unveiling in 1922, though no mention of the flute band is made in the report cited at Ulster War Memorials), and the local fishing industry.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This board on the Cupar Way “peace” line is a project young people in the Impact Training train (part of the Greater Shankill Partnership) concerning murals over the years. Its face has been changed by hundreds of messages and signatures of visitors from all over the world.
“The Changing Faces artwork is a project that has been undertaken by a group of young people from Impact Training . They looked to their surrounding area where they explored and documented how it appears in 2010. What is the Shankill? What does it look like and what does it mean to youth culture now? Murals have been something that has been prevalent in the community for many years. Times change, opinions soften and people can begin to build a changing face.”
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Recent work around Conway and Canmore Streets on Cupar Way has revealed this old piece of graffiti: “We will never be 2nd class citizens to you scum[m]y bastards – L/S C/Coy” [Lower Shankill C Company]. C Company (2nd battalion) was Johnny Adair’s UDA unit and the location is just inside UVF territory (west of Agnes/Northumberland Street); this graffiti might thus date to the feud with the UVF in 2000. Alternatively, the intended audience might be residents in Bombay Street and St. Galls Avenue. If you have more definite information, please leave a comment or send an e-mail.
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Copyright © 2014 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 