“Keep the diamond shinning [sic] bright”. The ‘Diamond Project’ is an initiative from Belfast City Council to re-image Lord Street, east Belfast (Belfast Media). Diamonds also feature in Always Keep A Diamond In Your Mind and Shine Bright Diamond Alley
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“Miss McMinn (BEM) created a haven for “Her Girls” in Thorndyke Street Club. It was a home from home where you were encouraged to be yourself. ‘Her girls’ were here life: Her 27 years of service brought joy to the lives of young girls in an area of Belfast that had been devastated by the Blitz. Miss Margaret (Greta) McMinn (we never used Christian names) never married but devoted her life to ‘her girls’. So great was her dedication that during ‘The Troubles’, unable to get to her home in north Belfast, she slept on the premises. With her guidance we learned many arts and crafts which we shared with our family and friends on ‘display night’. We also entered many sports competitively in our own area and the Shankill Road. Many outings to the pantomime, circus, etc. and the annual holidays to Shimna House, Newcastle, County Down, were a real treat for children who had little or nothing in the way of luxury. Wonderful memories of a beautiful lady. – Peggy Bowden”.
Part of the “East Side Lives Heritage Trail” which “celebrates the unsung people who built community in east Belfast. Other entries include The Godfather Of Legal Betting | No Ordinary Woman | Two Smart Alecs | Desano’s. For a list of all fourteen, see the Trail’s pamphlet (pdf).
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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“VE Day” in large letters composed of images, portraits of servicemen, and newspaper front pages (“It’s Over In Europe”, “Germany Quits” and so on) from the period at the end of WWII in Europe, installed along the Shore Road, Belfast, for the 75th anniversary of the event.
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Copyright © 2020 Seosamh Mac Coılle
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This is the pro-NHS mural in Newbuildings, south of London-/Derry. The “S” of NHS has been turned into the “S” of superman (see also Prepared For Work, Ready For Coronavirus). The rainbow (7-stripe rather than the gay pride 6-stripe) has become a symbol of positivity in the time of the coronavirus pandemic (see e.g. NHS Forever | Thank You, Postmen).
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The garden of remembrance in Newbuildings was opened in November, 2018, and has grown to include several boards (second image), including “Newbuildings Victoria LOL 1087 remembers our murdered brethren.” (for “Orange Victims” day in September, 2019), troops going over the top at the Somme, and a Celtic Cross with Irish-based British Army regiments (and their battles): Royal Irish Rifles, Royal Irish Fusiliers, Royal Irish Rangers, and Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. On the front railings are now tarps related to the pandemic (“Thank you to all our NHS staff and essential workers from the local Orange family. Together fighting Covid-19”) and the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The Derry Girls, and the wee fella, James, are now a tourist attraction, thanks to the success of the television show.
It is reported that they have been given masks in support of NHS and essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic (Derry Now).
In Orchard St, London-/Derry, by UVArts (ig).
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Commentary on the coronavirus pandemic Great James Street, London-/Derry: “Lockdown is killing thousands. Covid = Flu”. The coronavirus ‘shelter in place’ orders in the UK and Ireland have various negative health consequences, including poverty from unemployment, an increase in alcohol consumption and domestic violence, and an unwillingness to seek medical attention for non-Covid-related ailments. But it’s far from clear that “thousands” have died. Nonetheless, the continued isolation and disruption to normal living is proving difficult to bear.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The Siege Of Derry began in June 1689 when King James II was rebuffed with cries of “No surrender!” It lasted 105 days, during which about half of the townspeople died. Part of the siege equipment was a boom placed across the River Foyle about halfway between Derry and Culmore. Five ships took part in ending the siege. Shown in this new Tullyally mural (by Glen Molloy) is the Dartmouth, which attacked the shoreline besiegers at Culmore so that three small ships could bring in provisions – the Mountjoy and Phoenix approaching the boom and the Jerusalem hanging back until success was assured. They were accompanied by a longboat from the Swallow, filled with sailors who with “hatchets and cutlasses” were “hewing and hacking away at the boom” (Witherow at Library Ireland) so that it could be broken by Mountjoy.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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Link 47 (in the Crescent Link Retail Park, London-/Derry) is currently only doing take-out and delivery but the mural on its side wall supports the NHS workers who have been going to work daily during the coronavirus pandemic.
The mural is by UV Arts (web), who also did Someone To Watch Over Me in Creggan.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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The outside of Creggan community centre (managed by the Old Library Trust) has been decorated (by UVArts) with a big “thank you” to “all our workers” – particularly nurses, binmen, and postmen – who have continued providing public services during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Copyright © 2020 Andy McDonagh/Eclipso Pictures (ig | Fb)
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