The Pride Of Ulster

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Here are six panels from the shops in the Westwinds estate in Newtownards, which have replaced a UVF mural (Help Us To Help You).

Little is known about the omnibus called “The Pride Of Ulster”, except that this picture shows it at Newtownards Railway Station, Victoria Avenue, c. 1920. SAS soldier and boxer (and rugby-player) Blair “Paddy” Mayne, DSO, is portrayed in the second panel. (For more, see these posts about Mayne from 2013 and 2014.).

On the other side of the Ulster Banner in the centre is a WWII Douglas Dakota C-47, specifically “FZ692 of No. 233 Squadron, around the D-Day period in 1944. This aircraft, which was named “Kwicherbichen” by her crews, was involved in Para-dropping operations on the eve of D-Day and subsequently in re-supply and casualty evacuation missions into and out of forward airfields in the combat areas” (RAF). 

Motorcyclist Joey Dunlop is on the far right (see Race Of Legends), and above them all is a WWI board from the 1st Newtownards Somme Society (based in the Somme museum in Conlig?).

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East East Belfast

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This hooded gunman from the East Belfast UVF – like the series of stencils featured previously in EB UVF – is on a wall in Newtownards’s Westwinds estate. Below is a EB UVF mural at the bottom of Bowtown, not far from the West Belfast UDA mural in Greenwell St. The UVF and UDA also compete in the Glen estate; compare Today’s Local with Our Heritage In Your Hands.

Questions about EB UVF lawlessness in north Down arose over the summer with a “business opportunity” presented to local hostelries (Belfast Live | ITV).

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North Down West Belfast

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Here are two UDA/UFF “North Down – West Belfast” boards, one in Clandeboye Road, Bangor (above) and the other in Lenamore Park, Newtownards (below). The UDA in North Down is split into two factions, one associated with the Shankill (west Belfast) UDA and the other with the East Belfast UDA. The former is based primarily in Newtownards, but not exclusively, as the board above shows. It is also remarkable for its use of hooded gunmen in “active” poses.

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North Down Battalion

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The yellow board in the foreground lists battles of the North Down Battalion in World War I (for a description of the battalion, see the previous 2017 post). Added to that since then is a large black-and-white board to the modern Ulster Volunteer Force and its divisions: Bangor, Donaghadee, Ballywalter, Newtownards, Millisle, and Portavogie. (It’s worth noting that although this is a board, the UVF emblem in the middle is depicted as having been painted on a brick wall, indicating a preference for old-school muraling.)

Below is a shot of the rest of the low wall, with Bangor Protestant Boys Flute Band (previously seen in 2017). 

Owenroe Drive, Bangor

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Simply The Best

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These  UDA 2nd battalion D company boards are in the lower Kilcooley estate, Bangor. This piece is co-branded as “North Down/West Belfast”, even though it is only metres away from a (North Down/East Belfast) North Down Defenders board. See Ulster Defence Unions for more on the tensions between the rival UDA factions.

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1912 UVF

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This post updates a 2017 one (Always A Little Further) from Whitehill, Bangor, with the addition of “1912 UVF” between the two “East Belfast UVF” boards, suggesting a softening of message. Similarly, a long “Ulster Volunteer Force” has been blacked out directly across the street.

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Available Here

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On the right of this image there is a European Regional Development Fund plaque (dating back to at least 2008) but we do not have any record of a previous piece in this spot (Main Street, Conlig). It is not likely that it is referring to the Red Hand Commando board. Please get in touch if you have any information. See also the UVF board on the Today’s Local in the Glen estate, Newtownards.

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Westwinds East Belfast

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This large Union Flag is another “East Belfast UVF” marking in the Westwinds estate in Newtownards (10 miles to the east of Belfast), a more colourful companion to the hooded gunmen in  East East Belfast and EB UVF. The familiar purple-and-orange UVF flag flies over the playground.

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