… The Great War, “1916-2016”. WWI centenary mural in Grange Drive, Ballyclare.
Replaces Over The Top.
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Ballyclare Remembers
cultural
COYBIG
“Come on, you boys in green!” Here’s a mural from the summer, when Ireland (and Northern Ireland) took part in the European soccer championships. The Euro 2016 trophy is at the centre of an Irish Tricolour.
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Lıú Lúnasa
Lıú Lúnasa is an Irish language festival, held this year on 24-28 August. The mural above shows rocks taken from the wall separating Palestine and Israel being used to build a gaelscoıl (an Irish-language school). The mural was painted by Jımí Mac Fhlannchadha.
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X03817 Nansen St na habaır é, dean é. troıdımís. dearg le fearg.
City Of Temperance
The mural above in Londonderry’s Ebrington Street celebrates three local organisations: in the upper portion, Orange Lodge #1007 “City Of Temperance” lodge (web) and Women’s Lodge #29 “Mountjoy”; in the lower portion, Glendermott Cricket Club (Tw), whose home pitch is Rectory Field (shown on the shield in the middle).
Here’s a Derry Now article on the launch back in April.
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X03793 Bond Street Community Association BSCA
Over The Top
(British Army) soldiers silhouetted against the sunrise go over the top during World War I.
Thornhill Parade, Ballyclare
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For Bravery In The Field
Robert King, of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles, who joined the army from the Ulster Volunteers, was “awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in action on 1st July 1916” at the Somme. The two sides of the medal are shown in the top right, with George V on one side and “for bravery in the field”. The 12th Rifles were drawn from the Central Antrim regiment of the Ulster Volunteers including the Newington area of Larne; King, however, was from Ship Street.
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X03763 X03764 Wellington Grn Central Antrim Regiment newington
Féıle 2016
The tarp says féıle is “a year round cultural experience” but the main event is still the Gasyard Féıle in August. This year’s féıle included a screening of the film 66 Days (Derry Now). The festival ends on the 18th. (Final night write-up from Derry Journal.)
On the rear of Free Derry Corner.
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HMS Hawke
HMS Hawke was a Royal navy WWI cruiser sunk by German U-boat on October 1st, 1914. It was a training ship, which meant that among the 542 sailors who lost their lives on the Hawke, 75 of them were 16 year-old boys.
Five of the deceased were from the Donegall Road area. This is the first mural in south Belfast’s “Poppy Trail”; in addition to the Hawke, there will be a board for each year of the first world war, and perhaps others for WWII, on the streets off Donegall Road, from Barrington Gardens westward across into the Village.
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X03700 X03698 X03699 Barrington Gardens crawford dawson mills molloy thompson
The Poppy Trail 1914
“The first Belfast men in action were not those who volunteered after the war’s outbreak. Instead, they were the regular soldiers already in the army, or reservists who were called up as war began. A battalion which contained a large number of Belfast regulars and reservists was the 2nd Royal Irish Rifles. Since it was not part of the 16th or 36th divisions, the battalion drew men from across Belfast’s communities.” Thus begins the 1914 board on south Belfast’s “Poppy Trail” launched on February 29th. The 1914 board, in Egeria Street, features the stories of Lance Corporal Samuel Spratt (from Lecale Street, off the Donegall Road) who died at Neuve Chappelle in August 1914 and Corporal Michael McGivern (from Merrion Street, off the Falls Road) who died at Kemmel in December.
See also: interviews from the launch on NVTv (starting at 13m44s)
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X03692 X03691 Egeria Street sharedhistoryworkshop.com housing executive signtech imperial war museum kitchener your country needs you
Over The Top
The ‘over the top’ mural in Ballyclare has been refreshed, compared to the faded lettering of 2014: the list of battles has been restored (in the bottom right) but the large scroll in the centre has been painted over.
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Copyright © 2016 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 