City/Town

A Better Place

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Discover Ulster-Scots (web) has added some more boards in north Belfast, joining the recent gallery of famous figures at Mountcollyer Avenue (see The Scots In Ulster).

The boards shown here are in North Queen St: “Ulster-Scots have been making Belfast a better place for over 400 years. Many of Belfast’s leading charitable, religious and educational institutions were founded by Ulster-Scots.” with images of BRA (James Crombie), Clifton House (possibly William Tennant is intended), the Linen Hall Library (a list of founders can be found on page 11 of this History), the Assembly buildings (of the Presbyterian church), and Queen’s (John Mowat).

Additional new boards, concerning soda farls and potato bread, and brown lemonade, can be seen in the Paddy Duffy Collection: The Ulster Fry.

See also: the Visual History page on Ulster-Scots murals.

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Garfield’s Street

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A (Hit The North) Paint Jam was held on Saturday (the 25th) in Lower Garfield Street, organised by Seedhead Arts (ig) and the Belfast Improvement District (BID web). Shown below are Laura Nelson (ig), NRMN (ig), and Ollie Amscai (ig).

For images of all the completed works, see the entry at the Paddy Duffy Collection.

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DUP Backs United Ireland

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“DUP backs united Ireland in coming border poll, Mon, 5th May”. This image updates one of the images from two weeks ago of the re-painted mural at Madden’s bar in the city centre – see Sásta A Bheıth Anseo. Initially the newspaper showed a headline relating to the prosecution of DUP (now-former) leader Jeffrey Donaldson on charges of rape and sexual assault.

The DUP in January flirted (strategically) with the idea of supporting a border poll (BBC) but their more typical stance is that the conditions for a poll are not close to being met (News Letter).

While elections sometimes fall on the 5th as the first Thursday in May – most recently the 2022 Assembly elections (CAIN) – the date here is probably a nod to the anniversary of Bobby Sands’s death (in 1981).

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City Hall Stained Glass

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Here is a gallery of seven pieces of stained glass in Belfast City Hall. BCC has a guide to all of the stained-glass windows in the Hall.

1 (above): North Irish Horse, and in particular, the WWII battles it participated in (listed at the bottom of the window).

2 (below): Spanish Civil War

3 Cú Chulaınn – seen previously in Ulster’s Defence Force. See also the Visual History page In The Shadow Of Cú Chulaınn.

4: The Dockers’ Strike – seen previously in One Big Union.

5: The Famine Window. See also the Visual History page on The Great Hunger.

6: The Pathways Window – according to the guide, this window commemorates the pain caused to the relatives of deceased persons from whom organs were taken without consent.

7: The Centenary Window

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Frank McKelvey

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Francis “Frank” McKelvey grew up at 56 Woodvale Road (based on Lennon Wylie and the blue plaque on the wall at this address – Street View). That would put him a stone’s throw from Woodvale Park, which provides the backdrop for this new mural at the end of Woodvale Street. The photograph reproduced, of “Woodvale park pond”, can be seen on the Old Shankill Fb page. The pond was filled in after the second World War (City Council). McKelvey’s ‘A Summer’s Day‘ is perhaps of Woodvale Park pond. He died in 1974 (Ulster History Circle).

By Holly Hooks (ig) in Woodvale Street, west Belfast.

February 14th:

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Not A Dumping Ground

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These Shankill placards read “Landlords take notice: “You have a responsibility” This is not a dumping ground.” and “Landlords take notice: We are taking back our community.” Their wording is not as explicit as the tarps and posters that have been seen in other areas which read, “NIHE & Private Landlords take note: [Belvoir | Suffolk | Finaghy | Newtownards] will no longer accept the re-housing of illegal immigrants or the excrement of other communities!” (BBC Belvoir | BBC Suffolk | (BelTel Newtownards) and “We have had enough of undesirables and immigrants being placed into our community. The time has come for locals only.” (BBC Finaghy). The “excrement” language has been condemned by politicians from both sides, as it (probably) refers to homeless people and those suffering intimidation who apply for Housing Executive housing (here is the points system). See also: similar placards in Rathcoole (Belfast Live).

See previously: “Locals Only” graffiti on Shore Road.

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Off The Ledge

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Leo Boyd (web) returns to a familiar subject – the PSNI land-rover – this time going over the edge into deep water. See previously: Freshly Made For You | Winding Up The Peelers | 999 99 | Peeling In The Sun | X-Wing Land Rover | My First Meat Wagon (which dates back to 2018). Also: My 1st Meat Wagon in Paddy Duffy’s collection.

Church Street, Belfast city centre

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Double Vision

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This piece is on the same office-building as the ‘Be Your Best’ piece featured previously (in Auld Cobblers) at the city-side entrance to east Belfast, at the junction of Middlepath Street and Newtownards Road. Both are by Dee Craig/Belfast Mural Arts (Fb) as part of East Belfast Enterprise’s (web | ig) ‘Connecting Communities Through Art’ initiative. The two works were officially launched together on April 20th (pics on EBE’s Instagram). The two in-progress shots (last below) are from April 16th.

According to this Community NI article, the work has been installed using “a jigsaw-like technique using super strength glue to give it a lifespan of up to 25 years before requiring maintenance”.

Interpretations of the new piece are encouraged; feel free to comment or e-mail.

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