The new homes in Parkside Gardens were completed in March 2018 (in the same style as the award-winning houses in Parkend), but the security fencing separating Newington from Mountcollyer remain. The “park” in question is Alexandra Park, believed to be Europe’s only park with a “peace” line running through it (BBC) – see previous posts from 2011 and 2013.
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The Strategic Policy and Resources Committee of Belfast City Council decided on the 8th to remove two east Belfast bonfires built on council-owned land, carparks at the Avoniel leisure centre and in Ashdale Street, after staff arriving for work reported being threatened (BBC), perhaps by bonfire-builders reacting to the removal of tyres in Lismore Street (ITV) (see A Vote For The IRA). In response, builders of the Avoniel pyre removed its tyres, lowered its height, and moved it further away from buildings, but the Council affirmed its decision. A crowd of about 400 gathered to protect the site on Tuesday evening (BBC) and barricaded the site. The graffiti shown above appeared, calling contractors “masked republican mercenaries” and vowing that if they interfered they would “Attack loyalism at your own risk!!!” On Wednesday (1oth) the Council committee again affirmed its decision (Ailerain) but expressed concern over information of possible UVF involvement (Belfast Live) supplied in a letter from the PSNI (Mark Simpson). (The mural is the background is a UDA one. See Northern Island.) The barricades were removed on Wednesday (as the image below shows). A contractor hired to remove the fire pulled out (BBC) on Wednesday evening. A “cultural celebration” was held throughout the night (BelTel).
The Ashdale Street fire was moved to a different location, near the Oval (BBC) and was set alight last night (BelTel).
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The memorial to Brian “Herbie” McCallum at the top of Ainsworth Avenue received a major upgrade late last year, with two new plaques and a mural (shown above) along with a side wall that is featured in a separate post: The Earth And Its Toiling.
The long plaque reads: “June 1993 brought extreme Republican violence and agitation surrounding the annual Orange Whiterock parade, which was travelling its traditional route past this very spot and onto the Springfield Road. The threat being so severe to this community, the 1st Belfast Battalion Ulster Volunteer Force deployed several armed active service units. Herbie being Herbie was first to volunteer for duty. Realising the grenade he had been issued with had malfunctioned and giving absolutely no consideration for his own safety, he carried the device to a safe location, away from men, women and children. This one selfless act costs Herbie his life when the grenade detonated prematurely. Volunteer Brian “Herbie” McCallum died 29th June 1993. Sadly missed by his family friends and comrades. Rest easy soldier your duty is done. For God and Ulster.” McCallum died three days after the explosion.
The plaque from the original memorial (which dates back to 1994) has also been retained (above the one shown next, below): see Some Day Soon We’ll March Proudly On Parade.
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Copyright © 2019 Seosamh Mac Coılle
X06675 X06676 [X06677] [X06678] X06674 [X06680] “There is discipline in a volunteer/You can see it when he walks/There is honour in a volunteer,/You can hear it when he talks/There is courage in a volunteer,/You can see it in his eyes/There is loyalty in a volunteer/That he will not compromise.” “We will remember him. The officers and members of Sweeney’s ‘A’ Company 1st Belfast Battalion Ulster Volunteer Force.”
Kipling’s 1912 poem Ulster is not often quoted in loyalist muraling, despite it being an angry denunciation of Home Rule and the sacrifice of loyalists, as in the lines quote here: “The blood our fathers spilt/Our love, our toils, our pains/Are counted us for guilt/And only bind our chains./Before an Empire’s eyes/The traitor claims his price./What need of further lies?/We are the sacrifice. … The terror, threats, and dread/In market, hearth, and field/We know, when all is said./We perish if we yield.” Specifically, the sacrifice is six North Antrim/Londonderry UDA volunteers: Lindsay Mooney, Cecil McKnight, Ray Smallwoods, Benny Redfern, Gary Lynch, William Campbell. (See also: a RHC mural in the Shankill with a few lines from the poem.)
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The North Antrim/Londonderry UDA has existed in the “Past, present, for all time”, or at least from 1972 to 2016 (and into 2019). “The blood our comrades shed shall not have been in vain. We honour Ulster’s dead and staunch we will remain.” The same quotation was used in Cloughfern.
Carnany estate, Ballymoney
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UDA 3rd battalion [North Antrim & Londonderry brigade] in Carnany estate, Ballymoney.
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This is the matching pair to Ulster’s Past Defenders, which featured the B Specials and UDR. Ulster’s Present Defenders are the “undefeated” (“invicta”) UFF, who are shown here taking a sledgehammer to someone’s front door. The quotation on the rights is a modified version of the Declaration of Arbroath: “For as long as one hundred of us remain alive we shall never in anyway consent to submit to the Irish. For it’s not for glory, honour or riches we fight but for freedom alone which no man loses but with his life.” The gunman in the lower right is famous from a mural (M02474) – now gone – in the lower Shankill.
Carnany estate, Ballymoney
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“Better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees in an Irish Republic.” The Ulster Special Constabulary was originally divided into three categories A, B, and C but after the 1922 only the B Specials remained as a reserve force for the RUC. The USC was disbanded in 1970 after its controversial behaviour in the riots of 1969, on some occasions failing to protect Catholics and in a few cases joining in with loyalists. It was replaced by the UDR (as a reserve military force), which lasted until 1992 – it was amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers to become the Royal Irish Regiment.
In Carnany estate, Ballymoney.
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Petitions with over 100,000 signature must be debated by Westminster MPs. At 4:30 this afternoon MPs will debate (without voting) a petition to give British soldiers – and particularly paratroopers who served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles – immunity. Supporters of granting immunity are upset by recent reports on government policy (from Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt) suggesting that service in the North will not be included in any such bill (BelTel) and/because paramilitaries would also be included (Shropshire Star). See previously: Stop The Witch Hunt.
The poster above (at the top of the Shankill) from a group calling itself Northern Ireland Crown Forces Veterans For Justice, calls for people to rally in support of soldier. “We demand that the British Government must enact protective legislation, whilst they are engaged in the Defence of our Country and its People. This must cover Past, Present & Future deployments. We also demand that the British Government rescind the findings of the discredited Saville Inquiry, and the apologies made by Politicians, which were not made in our name.”
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Show Some Love is a campaign by non-profit Another World Belfast (web | Fb | ig) to collect toiletries and underwear for ‘Love Packs’. The organisation takes its name and inspiration from the last line of Arundhati Roy’s Confronting Empire (which was subsequently expanded into An Ordinary Person’s Guide To Empire (p. 86)): “Another world is not only possible, she’s on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe.” (The last line actually appears to be “On a quiet day, you can hear her breathing.”)
Behind their stencil on the electrical box is the spring 2019 Hit The North piece by artist Emmanlene Blake (web), portraying author and journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot in the head in Creggan (by a gunman from the New IRA) on April 18th while observing a riot from behind police lines. She was taken to Altnagelvin hospital but later died. At her funeral in Belfast, Father Martin Magill was inspired to ask why her death was required in order to make politicians work together. He received a standing ovation (BBC-NI).
Later in the painting process the electrical box was painted over in keeping with the piece (“Here’s to saying goodbye to bombs and bullets”) and a quotation added to the main piece: “It won’t always be like this. It’s going to get better – Lyra McKee.” See the final two images, below.
Kent Street, Belfast city centre
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Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 