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Sister Clare’s Prayer

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This is the second mural in Derry to Sister Clare Crockett – the first was in her Brandywell home (see All Or Northing!) while this one is in Shantallow.

Crockett became a nun in 2001 and died in 2016 at the age of 33 in an earthquake in Ecuador – the mass for the seventh anniversary of her death was held last month (youtube).

A documentary film about Crockett’s life is available on youtube.

(Update, Jan 2025: Crockett is to be beatified – Irish Times)

Painted by Razer (ig) in Racecourse Road, Shantallow, Derry.

The info board reads:

“Sr Clare Crockett was born in Derry 14th November 1982. The daughter of Gerard and Margaret Crockett. During a Holy Week Retreat in Spain in the year 2000 she experienced the intensity of the Lord’s Death and Resurrection that led to a deep conversion of her life. Sr Clare entered the Servant Sisters of the House of the Mother 11th August 2001. She went to found a new community in Jacksonville, Florida in October 2006. Sr Clare took Perpetual vows 8th September 2010. In 2014, Sr Clare undertook the mission in Ecuador. She died in an Earthquake, protecting her pupils 16th April 2016. She was buried in Derry 2nd May 2016.”

“Sister Clare’s Prayer: Heavenly Father, for your Glory, that or [of] your beloved Son, that of the Holy Spirit and that of the Mother Of God, we ask that grant us the grace (mention your request in the silence of your heart) … as a sign that the life of our Sister Clare Theresa Crockett has been pleasing to you on this earth and that she is now rejoicing with you in Heaven. We ask this through your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.”

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COVID-19 Memorial

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“This memorial was unveiled by The Worshipful The Mayor, Councillor Jim Montgomery [tw], in memory of those from Antrim and Newtownabbey who list their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic. May 2021. Always remembered.” According to the COVID dashboard for NI (NISRA), deaths did plateau in the spring and summer of 2021 – perhaps explaining the timing of the plaque above – before increasing again in the autumn. As of May 5th, 2023, 5,283 deaths in NI were attributable to COVID-19, including 463 in the Antrim & Newtownabbey borough area.

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The Forgotten Lands

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“No more ‘promises’ … No more excuses … Fix it now! Wall of protest #FiftyYearsOfFailure It’s not subjective … it’s not debatable. The data doesn’t lie.”

The general concern of this campaign is persistent under-investment in Derry and the northwest. One of the placards reads carried by a protester reads, “Belfast’s economy has grown 14% since the [1998] Good Friday Agreement, Derry’s has shrunk 7%” but the complaint goes back “fifty years”, based on the approval in 1965 (BBC) and construction by 1968 of what was initially called the “New University Of Ulster” at a new site in Coleraine rather at Magee University College in Derry. The final panel of the long board includes the logo of the Derry University Group “fighting for a cross-border independent university for the north west” (tw). (1965 was also the year that Craigavon was created.)

For more on the campaign see Bel Tel | Derry Now.

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DUP, Go Back To Work

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After the May, 2022, elections that resulted in Sınn Féın being the largest party, the Assembly met twice but on both occasions the DUP refused to participate in a vote for speaker after which Stormont could not function. The DUP explained its boycott of the Assembly as a form of protest at the NI Protocol and voted against the “Windsor Framework” intended to resolve those problems (Sky News). Various deadlines have passed, a pay-cut is threatened (Belfast Live), but, as it stands currently, there will not be a new Assembly election under January, 2024 (Guardian | BBC).

A Belfast Live poll three weeks ago found that 75% of respondents thought the rules should be changed to allow Stormont to be restored without DUP co-operation.

Council elections take place on May 18th (BBC).

Clooney Road/Limavady Road, Londonderry, east of the Caw.

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No Apartheid

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“The Civil Rights 50th Anniversary Committee pay homage to all the courageous people who participated in the Civil Rights campaign” with a commemorative board in the alley of Donegall Street Place, in front of the Jim Larkin statue and ICTU mural. The photograph shows the start of the march from Coalisland to Dungannon on March 24th, 1968. The participants are identified on the CAIN page about NICRA. (See also the remarks from vice-chair Dympna McGlade at Slugger.)

“We shall overcome – the history of the struggle for civil rights in Northern Ireland 1968-1978. During the 1960’s, a diverse group of people and organisations with differing political aims, ideologies, cultural backgrounds, and religious beliefs came together to forge a unity based on a growing awareness of the need for an effective, non-violent vehicle for political and legislative reform. This led to the formation of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA). Original, inventive and radical in a stagnant political system, NICRA avalanched its way through Northern Ireland politics using the following aims: defend the basic freedoms of all citizens; protect the rights of the individual; highlight all possible abuses of power; demand guarantees for freedom of speech, assembly and association; inform the public of their lawful rights. Through activism, marches and peaceful disobedience, the NICRA demands were addressed to varying degrees and paved the way for major legislative, political and social reform in Northern Ireland. These demands included: ‘one man, one vote’; an end to gerrymandering of electoral wards; the prevention of discrimination in the allocation of government jobs and council housing; the removal of the Special Powers Act and the Disbandment of the Ulster Special Constabulary (The B Specials).”

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The Rising

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CNR west Belfast, but not that rising. Rather these two placards on the Falls Road encourage reactions to risings of the Christian kind – we should “repent” our sins even as they forgiven; the shroud of Turin dates to roughly 1300 but is a symbol of Jesus of Nazareth in the tomb between crucifixion and resurrection – and of the inflationary kind – Lasaır Dhearg (web) declares “Costs are rising. And so must we!”

Falls Road, west Belfast.

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A Wall For All

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A new braille plaque bearing the now-iconic saying “You are now enterting Free Derry” was unveiled last Tuesday (January 24th) by the founder of Children In Crossfire Richard Moore (featured previously in The Derry Lama) who was blinded in 1972 when he was hit with a rubber bullet.

Derry Journal has a gallery of images from the launch.

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Where’s Our 600 Quid?

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After much delay and finger-pointing (BelTel | Belfast Live) – and this complaint from east Belfast graffitist Hallion – details were published yesterday (December 30th) about how people will receive a £600 pound direct debit (or a voucher redeemable at the Post Office) to help with energy bills (uk.gov). The £600 comprises £400 from the Energy Bills Support Scheme (approved back in April, 2022 – uk.gov) and a £200 “Alternative Fuel Payment” (announced in August – uk.gov). The £200 AFP is due to the high percentage of homes using home-heating oil in Northern Ireland as compared with Britain (Belfast Live).

“Where is our 400 600 quid? Cost of living, innit. – Hallion2″

Previous work by Hallion: Wash Your Hands | It Hasn’t Gone Away | Wear A Mask Or The Easter Bunny Gets It | к черту Путина/Thran Rights Nai. For the fake shop-fronts, see previously: Semiotics.

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