Orange Order/ABOD

The Shankill Arch 2024

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“This arch was erected in memory of Bro. William (Belter) Bell, LOL 633. It has been kindly donated by the Bell family circle. 14th June 2024”

Speeches at the launch (youtube) note that the arch was not displayed during the Troubles (News Letter (paywall) says mid-60s), and was stored on the roofs of nearby shops for the sixty years since. Businessman Ian Bell (of video gaming companies Slightly Mad (WP | Belfast Live) and Straight4) is also specified as the main sponsor of the arch’s restoration, in memory of his father, who died on June 7th, 2008.

See also: the arch in Denmark Street (lower Shankill) in 2022 and 2023.

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DUP Sellout

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TUV (Traditional Unionist Voice) has put up placards attacking the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) – including outside the office of DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson – in response to the possibility that the DUP might re-enter Stormont – which has been defunct now for two years – and implement the NI Protocol (BBC | BelTel).

It hasn’t happened yet, but a combination of public dissatisfaction concerning inaction over strikes by transport workers on December 22 and a general strike planned for January 18 (ITv)) and a financial package for pay awards are keeping the pressure on (Shropshire Star).

For the Orange symbols above, see Your Kingdom Will Endure Forever; for Psalm 95 see We Are The People; for the Lamentations, see אי כניעה (“No surrender” in Hebrew).

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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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Shankill Parade

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The Shankill Area Social History (SASH) (Fb) celebrates the people and events of the Shankill Road with a new mural in Downing Street.

From left to right: girls wrapped in Union Flags watching the parade; boys on pallets; the Shankill Mission; Orange Order parade; the Summer festival in Woodvale Park (The Cabin); the former Belfast Savings Bank, now an undertaker’s; the Winter festival and switching-on of the Christmas tree lights, with Mrs. Claus, the Grinch in Santa jacket and hat, and last year’s (2022) celebrity guest Charlie Lawson (youtube); local band Casual Riots (ig). (SASH Fb Gallery)

For a mural of famous Shankill faces and places, see Save The Shankill.

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Gertrude Street Defenders

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Gertrude Street no longer exists – it was just east of where Wolff Close now is. But the Gertrude Street Defenders LOL 525 (Fb) brought back a former lodge (Lees Temperance/East Belfast Orange) March 2017, with former members of the Gertrude Star flute band (News Letter). For the five-flowered board on the right, see The Flax And The Lily. This pair of boards is on the courtyard fencing around the Westbourne Glentoran Supporters Club, off the Newtownards Road in the old Solway Street.

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We Are Victorious

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The Campsie Club (of Londonderry) is the youngest of the eight parent clubs of the Apprentice Boys “founded 1950” and is the only one named after one of the apprentice boys who shut the gates against the forces of James II in 1688 – Henry Campsie (web).

This Irish Street board puts the “Bro. Scott Goligher Memorial, Londonderry, Loyal Orange Lodge No. 461” (history of the lodge at Grand City Lodge) and the Campsie Club on either side of the “Protestant Boys flute band” (Fb).

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The Global Order

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There are Orange Order lodges in Ghana and Togo and there were previously lodges in South Africa and Nigeria (History Ireland | WP). A photo of the Ghanaian representative in the mural – Dennis Tette Tay – is included in this BBC article. The Canadian representative is perhaps from “Mohawk Loyal Orange Lodge No. 99” on the Mohawk Reservation at Desoronto, Ontario, Canada (Fb).

Vandalised with “KAH” and “UDA scum!” graffiti.

The Fountain, Londonderry

Update: The cleaned-up board in February of 2023 can be seen in the Paddy Duffy collection.

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Flags Of The Kingdoms

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The road in Glynn is painted with loyal emblems and slogans: on one side of a red hand in a six-pointed star, “God save our Queen” with the Union Flag, and on the other “No surrender – 1690” with the constituent flags of England (St George’s Cross), Scotland (St Andrew’s Saltire), and Ireland (St Patrick’s Cross). Above the road painting is the arch, on one side of which is the traditional King Billy and on the other a soldier (perhaps covering both WWI and the B Specials & UDR) standing in front of a cross.

For the Lambeg drums at the Eleventh celebrations, see While I Live I’ll Crow.

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NI Beyond 100

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Our Story In The Making – NI Beyond 100 is a NI Office programme collecting stories showcasing Northern Ireland “on the world stage”. It has lent its brand to the Ballycarry centenary boards shown in today’s post, which have black-and-white photographs on the left (beginning with “Home to Ballycarry – General Sir James Stuart Steele visits his birthplace”) and colour photographs on the right (beginning with children visiting the Steele monument).

A ‘Stand With Ukraine’ flag and Ulster Banner fly above the walls; a bonfire is being hastily erected in the background.

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