A confederate flag (strictly, the battle flag of the Army Of Northern Virginia) with skull (with an eye-patch!) and cross-bones alongside a “King William III Prince of Orange” flag.
Island Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Charter NI chief executive Dee Stitt returned to work after a three-week holiday following controversial remarks that a Bangor flute band (the North Down Defenders) provided “homeland security” for the area and that he was the big man in the area. (The remarks were included in this Guardian video, starting at 7m 22s. For more on the UDA in north Down, see this Tele article.)
Many have called for his resignation, including Jeffrey Donaldson of the DUP (Irish News), though the Charter NI board, who conducted an internal review, did not fire him. At least one of the local people in east Belfast was already unhappy with the organization this summer, when the graffiti above was sprayed in Beechfield Street.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03598 NI Executive “managed” September and not “controlled” November
After a year without any change, work appears to have stopped on this UVF mural in Ballyearl. It links together the Ulster Volunteers of the first world war (shown on the left of the wall, with a Victoria Cross, Carson and the covenant, and a cross on the battlefield of Flanders) and the modern UVF (represented by a hooded gunman with rifle brought to bear, and the Nissen huts of Long Kesh. An orange lily and red poppy complete the tableau.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03567 X03564 X03566 X03485 X03568 ballyearl dr ballyclare rathcoole tiger’s bay shore lanarkshire craigneuk carluke bellshill tyneside glengormley new mossley mount vernon 3rd battalion new mossley weather cloudly uvf ycv for god and ulster
“From Warsaw to Berlin” — Polish airmen in England, in the 300 Mazovian bomber squadron, write a “dedication” on a bomb headed for Germany in August 1941. The plane added as a background is perhaps an Avro Lancaster, while the one in the middle ground (in the wide shot, below) is a Vickers Wellington. According to the information board (shown last, below) “many Polish servicemen remained in Great Britain and Ireland after the [Second World] war, laying the foundations for a large Polish community that now (in Northern Ireland) numbers over 30,000.”
Here is the original image (which has been coloured for the mural).
Previously: Love Demands Sacrifice, which celebrated the 303 squadron and The Silent Unseen, which celebrated the 1st Polish parachute regiment.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03551 X03552 X03553 benburb st formed on July 1st 1940 fairey battles antwerp boulogne calais ostend dunkirk pawel wojchiechowski ballyhalbert bramoote swinderby faldingworth air marshal arthur harris michael bentine cologne launched 2016-06-10 housing executive shared history ACT initiative
Northern Ireland take on Wales in the Euro 2016 football championship after qualifying for the knockout stage with a 2-0 win over Ukraine, with goals by Gareth McAuley (featured in the mural) and Niall McGinn.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03545 X03544 our wee country norn iron uefa france irish football association arc de triomphe
Voters (finally!) go to the polls today in the much-discussed “Brexit” referendum. Opinion on the nationalist side is split – the image above advises “leave” “for independence, for democracy, for freedom, for Europe, for peace” while in the third image the poster is pro-remain with the suggestion that “We’re better off in.” In between, a poster in a loyalist area alleges that “We send the EU £50 million every day — let’s spend that on our NHS instead.”
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03542 [X03515] X03541 X03543 [also X03669] whiterock rd twaddell ave clondara st james connolly nora connolly obrien british government has no right in ireland éırígí
One hundred years ago today, on July 1st, 1916, the Battle of Albert began, the first of many battles in what is known collectively as the Battle of the Somme. Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Brigade went “over the top” at 7:28 a.m. By the end of the day, more than nineteen thousand British soldiers were dead, five thousand from the 36th.
The line “We gathered from our towns, our villages and farms, in answer to the echo of alarm” comes from the song “Armagh Brigade”; the alarm is more specifically “Carson’s loud alarm”. Below the main panel, which shows combat at close quarters, are the words of Wilfrid Spender: “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st. July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world … the Ulster Volunteer Force, from which the Division was made, has won a name that equals any in history.”
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X03575 union st portadown uvf for god and ulster
Snooker player Alex “Hurricane” Higgins died on this day, July 24th, in 2010. He was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2011 as (twice) winner of the World Snooker Championship, UK Championship, and (twice) Masters. Upon winning the 1982 World Championship, an emotional Higgins was joined on the floor by his wife Lynn Avison and (shown above) daughter Lauren.
This is one of the panels of the long community mural in Stroud Street, painted in 2012.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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The image below is from a Twelfth bonfire collection point in Belvoir in April, threatening a fifty pound fine for anyone caught dumping unwanted material. The image above of a collection point near Sandy Row articulates what is unwanted: ironing boards, chairs, washing machines, sofas, sinks, fridges, wheels, comfy chairs, toilets, beds, stoves. This Belfast Telegraph article includes a good image of the pallets gathered in the car-park.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03539 X03416 wellwood st milltown rd
19 year-old Sandy Row resident Gary Whittley was killed in a hit-and-run incident in November, 2005 (BBC-NI) with charges being brought in 2008 (Tele). Most of the mural, which showed him in boxing gear, (see below for a 2012 image) is now gone, but the quote from 2nd Timothy remains: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”
Wellwood Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast
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Copyright © 2012 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 