Edenderry Bonfire

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Edenderry bonfire standing tall on the site of the former Portadown railway station, with commemorative plaque to the Ulster Volunteers on the left-hand pillar.

Elsewhere in Portadown, local residents were advised by the council to leave their homes ahead of the Corcrain/Redmanville bonfire, to be lit tonight (10th) (BBC).

Watson Street, Portadown

See previously: The Killicomaine bonfire: Respect.

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Gateway To West Belfast

Fáılte Feırste Thıar‘s second mural (the first is outside its offices in the middle Falls – see Go West) reinforces the claim that (republican) west Belfast begins as soon as you cross the motorway, five minutes’ walk from the city centre. Coıste’s tour of republican murals begins at Divis Tower and the new mural already seems to be drawing tourists – see the final image, below. The previous Coıste mural (M04900) has been deleted and incorporated into the mural, promising tourists “a unique walking tour by former political prisoners”.

The mural is a mix of landmarks – the new Raıdıó Fáılte building (which is located just below the mural), Divis tower, St Peter’s, Conway Mill, the so-called “international wall” of murals, the Bobby Sands mural, the Falls library, the new James Connolly centre, Cultúrlann, and Milltown cemetery – cultural images (Irish dancing and Féıle An Phobaıl) – and sporting images (clubs include Immaculata ABC, Gort Na Móna GAC, St Paul’s GAC). A gay pride ‘rainbow’ stripe runs below the Divis Street portion. Before the previous mural was painted (M07533), there was a Gateway To Belfast board at this spot.

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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06650 X06649 X06653 [X06651] Marty Lyons Micky Doherty

No Hedge Trees Or Shit

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With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. Thanks to squire93@hotmail.com for this image of the site in the Edgarstown estate (Portadown): “Dump wood – no hedge trees or shit.”

For the mural in the background, see In Answer To The Echo Of Alarm.

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Fáılte Go Dtí Glengormley

Irish-language signage was in the news recently after Antrim & Newtownabbey council threatened an 85-year-old Randalstown pensioner with a fine of up to 2,500 pounds if she failed to remove a street sign erected by her granddaughter (Irish Central). So far, no action has been taken by the same council against the Glengormley graffitist who added Irish to the new ‘welcome’ sign on the bridge near the Bellevue Arms, though without translating the placename: “Fáılte go dtí (Gleann Ghormlaıthe).” There is a matching sign at the other end of the area, on Sandyknowes roundabout.

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The Northern Crusades

Crusaders – off to a perfect start of two wins – travel the mile and a half across north Belfast to Solitude to  play Cliftonville at 3 this afternoon in the north Belfast derby. Today’s images are of the mural outside Seaview and the scene from the run-up to the team’s Irish Cup win over Ballinamallard (BBC-NI). In meetings between Crusaders and Cliftonville, Crusaders lead 151 wins to 84 (WP).

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They Said We’d Never Last

Ronnie’s hardware shop in east Belfast, vacant for many years and the site of Our Brave Defenders, was finally torn down last year and a pocket park created with murals commemorating east Belfast volunteers who died in the Great War and the UVF Regimental Band (tw), this year celebrating its 50 anniversary (video of the launch).

See previously: 40th anniversary banner at the same spot (next to the Belvoir Bar at the old Newcastle Street in east Belfast).

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X06573 X06574 X06571 X06572 St Leonard’s Cr/old Newcastle St

Dump Wood, No Shite

With less than a month to go until 11th night, bonfire builders are busy collecting materials for their pyres, but although they want people to “dump wood”, they don’t want to become dumps. “No shite” is on Lanark Way (west Belfast). For a more articulate list, see previously Stuff We Don’t Need.

The other three images are from the RYL [Roslyn?/Ravenhill? Young Loyalist] bonfire site in Lismore Street (east Belfast). where the “Irish News [is] not welcome” to write stories and take pictures of sites as the controversies surrounding them resurface each year, such as toxic fumes from tyres (see e.g. Tyre-Free Pyre and Tyred Of Your Culture) and state attempts to exchange funds for conditions on fires (see e.g. Culture Before Cash and Real Loyalists Will Never Be Bought).

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The Somme 1916

The ‘Liverpool No. 4 battalion’ UVF mural in Tynan Drive, Monkstown, (seen previously) has been replaced by a Dee Craig (Fb) mural to the soldiers of the Ulster Volunteers (see the ‘bleeding hand’ symbol in the apex) at the Somme. The small plaque on the fence to John Webster (a.k.a. Webber), Lee Irwin & Steven Cook, remains.

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100 Years In Northern Ireland

“Commemorating 100 years of the Royal Air Force in Northern Ireland.” This Donegall Road mural highlights six locations in the north and their connection to the RAF in WWI, including Bentra, near Whitehead, home to the Sea Scout airships that guarded Larne-Stranraer ferries against U-boats.

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