Four images of a new mural of the “Rathcoole Elite” unit (1st Batt., B. Coy) of the Red Hand Commando, complete with four masked men each bearing weapons. Founded in 1970, “To this day our principles remain the same: to protect the loyalist community, to retain our Britishness.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03398 X03399 X03397 X03396 derrycoole way it is not for glory or for riches that we fight but for our people lamh dearg abu
This new mural in Ballyduff commemorates the sacrifice of the Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers who fought in WWI and in particular their action in 1916; 2016 is the centenary of the Battle Of The Somme. The flag of (modern) UVF 1st East Antrim battalion flies on either side of the mural.
In the second image: the other new mural on this box was featured in If Needed, We Shall Rise Again
In the third image: The Ultimate Sacrifice
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03282 X03283 X03229 fairview ave lest we forget YCV they paid the ultimate sacrifice present peace now still our hand death no longer stalks the land our weapons are silent and shall remain but if needed we shall rise again hooded gunmen world war one
The new loyalist mural in Ballyduff shows volunteers in sunglasses and scarves standing with flags to either side of a monument which reads “They who kept the faith and fought the fight, the glory theirs and the duty ours. Dedicated to the officers and Volunteers of South East Antrim U.D.A. – U.F.F. Quis separabit.”
Replaces a UDA board, featured previously.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03235 fairview rd glengormley ballyduff 2nd batt ulster young militants uff terrae filius
Five images of a new, multi-wall, mural in Ballyduff. The main panel shows WWI soldiers bowed over graves in Flanders surrounded by poppies. This is accompanied by the red-hand emblem of the Ulster Volunteers and the shamrock of the YCV.
On a side wall (see the fourth image) is a verse from American professor Moina Michael’s poem We Shall Keep The Faith: “We cherish too the poppy red that grows in fields where valour led; it seems to signal to the skies the blood of heroes never dies”. It was Michael who began to raise funds for servicemen by selling (silk) poppies, also adopted by the British Legion in 1921 (WP).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03236 X03239 X03237 X03238 X03240 ballyduff gdns East Antrim volunteers UVF For God and Ulster At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them. YCV Lest we forget. Newtownabbey
The years of operation of the UVF in this new Ballyduff mural are given as 1966-1994. The main loyalist paramilitaries began what was to be a lasting ceasefire on 13th of October, 1994. The ceasefire was announced by Gusty Spence, who was the organisation’s original leader in 1966.
“Present peace now, stills our hand, death no longer stalks our land, our weapons are silent, and shall remain, but if needed, we shall rise again.”
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03282 X03284 fairview ave
“Our pork is 100% David Cameron free”. This chalk-board outside a butchers in Glengormley makes reference to the allegation that David Cameron came into intimate contact with a dead pig while at Oxford. Although the allegation hasn’t been substantiated, the affair has taken on a life of its own and is known as “piggate“.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03139 tramways centre
16 towns and town-lands of south-east County Antrim are named in this recent UFF mural: Rathcoole, Rathfern, Monkstown, Shore Road, Whitewell, Glengormley, Greenisland, Carrickfergus, Whitehead, Ballycarry, Ballyclare, Larne, Newtownards, Antrim, Antrim, Ballymena, Braidside.
This mural was painted in late summer, 2015, on a wall that had been blank since at least 2008. In 2006, it bore a UDA mural, for which see M03060 (in Peter Moloney’s collection).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03038 knocknenagh dr red fist star garland cloughfern
Good walls for murals can be hard to come by. Here are three ‘reservations’, two from Newtownabbey and one from Bangor, claiming walls for the UVF, UDA, and RHC, respectively.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03024 X03025 X02967 ulster volunteer force defence association red hand commando
Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “‘Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.’ King George V”. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Thiepval (Ulster Tower) and on the Cenotaph in Belfast (WP).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X03023 X03022 flanders somme uvf ycv
The images above and below show a new UDA mural in memory of John Gregg, “The Reaper”, who waged a campaign of terror against Catholics in south-east Antrim and was reputedly associated with British neo-Nazi groups. Gregg was gunned down in 2003, while returning from a Rangers match, as part of the power struggle with Johnny Adair. Watta-Chip (from the previous mural) has been replaced by Turkish Kebabs (Fb).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2015 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X02724 X02725 south east antrim brigade in proud memory of brigadier john gregg 1st batt rathfern b coy grugg Carrickfergus Larne Rathcoole cloughfern young conquerors
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 