(Part of) A crusader mural from the wall of Crusaders football ground, in St Vincent Street (site of the titanic mural and blitz board from last week). Crusaders are known as ‘The Hatchet Men’ within the soccer world.
This image replaced a hooded gunman image. This space rises to a height of about 6 feet – so when you were driving out along Shore Road the gun appeared aimed at about driver head height – quite intimidating!
This board is on the end of the Hubb Community Resources Centre and Bowling Club in St. Vincent Street; across the street is Crusaders football ground.
From the Tele: “The building was once the home for local Civil Defence during World War II’s ‘Blitz’. This building is now the one of the last remaining Civil Defence structures in Northern Ireland and has also played home to the local Senior Bowls Club for many years.” The mural also shows bombed-out homes and children going off to the countryside. Here is a short documentary about the 1941 Belfast Blitz (youtube).
The wide shot immediately below explains one meaning of the word “Alternatives”. The Hubb has cross-border financial support — note the (Irish Republic) Dept. of Foreign Affairs sponsorship in the information plaque.
The mural features “North Belfast dockers, millworkers, shipyard workers [from] Titanic town 1912”.
Along the bottom are the names of various Belfast pubs and other businesses: The Waterloo, The Terminus, The Sportsman’s Arms, The White Hart, The Bowling Green, The City Arms, The Orpheus – York Street, Railway Bar – Canning Street [image from 1970], The Edinburgh Castle [the boat of the Union-Castle line, launched 1910, built at H&W?], York Street Mill, The Gibralter [sic] Bar [whose then-owner was killed in 1972], Ye Old Castle [a bar (and restaurant?) bombed in 1971], The White Lion. Please leave a comment if you can add any information about these place-names.
A close-up of the info plaque at the top right can be found below. The piece was painted by Jim Russell from Glasgow.
The Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI)’s collection of photographs of Belfast, 1912-1914 (some actually from 1911 and 1915) contains various shots of the area.
There are always cars parked in front of the mural, which is at the blind end of St. Vincent Street, next to Crusaders’ football ground. But finally we have captured it entire, automobile-free, in an extra-large (3854 pixels wide) image.
These three images are from Thompson House on the Antrim Road (at Fortwilliam shops). Thompson House “aims to provide temporary accommodation for offenders with the purpose of reducing the risk of re-offending/harm to the community and by managed resettlement to prepare for move on to permanent accommodation” (PCI-BSW). The residents include sex offenders. Locals are unhappy with the hostel and against the current extension/redevelopment (Tele). A pipe bomb was left at the site last (2011) October (BBC-NI). The pictures here (from the week ending October 20th, 2012) show graffiti at the site.
In Belfast, the gates (in the so-called “peace” lines) open up to admit various earthly pleasures and pains, as well as the king of glory. The New Life City Church at the lower gates on Northumberland Street.
A colourful mural on Sráıd Brighton (Brighton Street, Falls at Broadway) from the organization Pobal.
“ar scáth a chéıle” is a shortened version of “Is ar scáth a chéıle a mhaıreann na daoıne”: it is in each other’s shadow (or, as here?, umbr(ell)a) that the people exist; figuratively “no man is an island” or as Dimitry put it in Dostoevsky’s The Brother Karamazov, “we are all responsible for all”.
This long board for “International Peace Day – 21st September” sits between the security gates on Northumberland Street (Visual History) and bridges images of the Shankill (on the left) and images of the Falls (on the right) with sunflowers and a quote from Martin Luther King (and a mosaic of additional photos): “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality [tied in a single garment of destiny]. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly” (Letter From A Birmingham Jail. As always with murals of this type, all of the photographs are of the two areas in yesteryear – no mention of the Troubles. Organised by Springboard Opportunities (web), with support from the Shankill history group, the Gaeltacht Quarter, and the Ireland Funds.
Two pieces from the recently seeded, though still enclosed, site of the old Andersonstown police station, both commenting on austerity measures prompted by the current recession. On Oct. 9th, 2012 the Assembly passed the first stage of a welfare bill (instigated by London) which will cut benefits significantly (BBC). SF and the SDLP opposed the measure. In the background of the shot below various SF boards can be seen.
The meme “____ Isn’t Working” in the placard below originates with this classic Labour Isn’t Working poster from 1978.
Seosamh Mac Coille Collection 