To The Max

02966 2015-09-01 Donegal Celtic FC Maxi+

Paul “Maxi” McVeigh scored over 200 goals during his career at Donegal Celtic – “The Wee Hoops” – the team he played his entire career with before retiring at the end of the 2012-2013 season. (Sunday World) The club grounds, and the mural shown above and below, are at the top of the Suffolk Road in west Belfast.

02888 2015-09-01 Donegal Celtic FC+

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X02966 X02888 est. 1970 donegal celtic FC football and sports club green and white hoops football soccer pride of west belfast

Like The Foam From The Fountain, Like The Mist From The Mountain

02867 2015-08-26 MacFadzean+

Twenty-year-old William Frederick McFadzean from Lurgan won the Victoria Cross for throwing himself on top of a crate of hand grenades that fell into his trench on July 1st (WP), the first day of the battle of the Somme; July 1st and 2nd would see 5,000 of his comrades from the 36th (Ulster) Division killed or wounded. The portrait on which the image is based can be seen at CultureNI.

Here’s a recording of the song composed in his honour:

Kinsale Park, Caw, Londonderry

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X02867 36th Ulster Division (109 Brigade) 9th October 1895 – 1st July 1916 for valour for god and ulster UVF YCV ulster volunteer force young citizen volunteers

In A Foreign Land

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The [Sergeant] Lindsay Mooney Memorial Flute Band was formed in 1973 after the St. Patrick’s day death of Lindsay Mooney, a UDA member killed by the premature explosion of a bomb near Lifford, County Donegal (Sutton). The band dissolved in 1993 but commemorative nights are still held (NI World).

The board above is in the Lincoln Court area of Londonderry, from where Mooney and the band both hailed. “To those of us who criticise, to those who cannot see, just remember in a foreign land fell a better man than me.”

The Ballad Of Lindsay Mooney: youtube | lyrics

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X02865 sergeant

I Don’t Like Mondays

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On Saturday mornings Brandywell Celtic play in the premier division of the Northwest league, while on Sunday mornings Brandywell Harps and Ballymoor FC play in the Senior league. Brandywell Swifts played in the Astroleague. Also included are the Oakleaf Amateur Boxing Club (Fb) and the Long Tower Judo Club.

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X02831 Derry dove peace oak leaf

The Trenches Have Vanished Under The Ploughs

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This WWI mural is fading somewhat after at least eight years on a wall in Strule Gardens, Londonderry. It shows soldiers going over the top, as depicted in JP Beadle’s Attack Of The Ulster Division (belfastsomme.com).

The title comes from the Eric Bogle song No Man’s Land (better known as “The Green Fields Of France” or “Willie McBride”. Here (youtube) is the recording by Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy.)

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02848 2015-08-25 StruleWWILeft+

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Relief Of Derry Fry

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This is the notice-board outside Cathedral Youth Club in Londonderry’s Fountain area (in August), inviting passers-by to express their loyalty in a ‘Relief of Derry fry’ – an Ulster fry with tea, coffee, or juice – to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.

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X02846 it’s a knockout summer activities big breakfast

1st July 1916

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The Battle Of The Somme – named after a French river – began on July 1st, 1916 and went on until the 18th of November. In those four and half months more than one million soldiers were killed or wounded, including, on July 1st alone, about 60,000 British troops. The 36th (Ulster) Division, on the left flank, pushed ahead of other units and found itself unsupported; 5,240 of its soldiers died.

02782 2015-08-20 1stJuly1916Full+

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Pride Of Whitehill

2015-08-20 BangorDavidGordon+

Bangor native David Gordon Dalzell was killed at age 20 in Helmland Province, Afghanistan, in 2011, shot accidentally by one of his comrades as he was cleaning his weapon. For an account of his death, see BBC-NIDalzell’s ‘fatality’ notice can be read at the MOD. In the image above (and detailed below), the front of this Whitehill house carries the emblem of Dalzell’s Royal Irish regiment and a funeral piper.

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X02783 X02960 royal irish regiment sean barry lest we forget

My Old Toy Box

02765 2015-08-16 SmithfieldToyBox+

Smithfield Market houses a wide variety of shops (BelfastCity) including Filipino groceries, dressmaking, hairdressing, jewelry, a nail bar, computers, carpets, bicycles, e-cigarettes and also – shown above – My Old Toy Box (Fb), sellers of model toys. Cash only!

Previously: Smithfield Market

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X02765 X02764 their only colour was khaki winetavern street

A Small Area

2015-08-13 ArdEoinBoxingDetail+

“Ardoyne-Bone boxers have punched well above their weight. As professional we have won … British, Commonwealth, European & W.B.U. titles. As amateurs we have won 3 olympic bronze, European Gold, Commonwealth Gold, World Junior silver, 17 Irish senior titles & an A.B.A senior title. Nor forgetting all our boxing coaches, who put in their time and effort for all our young boxers. Truly amazing for such a small area.” The wide shot below shows the whole of this new Ardoyne/Ard Eoın mural celebrating local boxers; the boxers named are Darren Corbett (WP), John Kelly (FightsRec), Paddy Barnes (WP), Harry McAuley (BoxRec), Anthony Maguire, Hugh Gilhooley (BoxRec), Eamonn McAuley (BoxRec), Freddie Gilroy (WP), Terry Magee (WP), Sean Brown, Noel Magee (WP), Barney Burns, Pat Kelly, Eamonn Magee (WP).

A mural celebrating Paddy Barnes’s 2014 Commonwealth gold medal: Oh, Paddy Boy

Pathé video of John Kelly being knocked out in 1954

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X02731 X02730 professionals