The mural to the left (in the image above) is at the end of a long panel featuring the word “community” in large letters (see 2023’s Cultural Expression) and so it’s possible that it should be taken together with the new panels (shown below) reading “stands” and “together” to give “Community stands together”.
The joining panel (shown above and immediately below) shows new and old buildings of Charter Youth Club (Fb), which has been “serving our community [for] 50 years+”. The building pictured below is the building of the old Linfield Junior Public Elementary (ig) which was later used for the youth club.
Also shown between the words are the emblems of (professional soccer club) Linfield FC (web) and (intermediate club) Sandy Row FC (Fb).
Bly Blaze FX in Blythe Street, Sandy Row, south Belfast
This is a new version of the Hugh Smyth board in Canmore Street, in the upper Shankill. It is very similar to the previous version (see Third-Class Citizens), with the main difference being the addition of the OBE medal that Smyth was awarded in 1996 for ‘services to the community’. There is also explicit mention of Smyth’s titles, as “The right honourable, alderman, and Lord Mayor of Belfast [city council] 1994-1995”. The small, inset, picture has also changed slightly – it is closer-up and in colour – though from the same photo-shoot by Bobbie Hanvey.
“Historically, Unionist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were first class citizens… and without question people believed them. Historically, Republican/Nationalist politicians fed their electorate the myth that they were second class citizens… and without question the people believed them. In reality, the truth of the matter was that we all, Protestant and Catholic, were third class citizens, and none of us realised it!”
In-progress images of the board being mounted are included below. The mural that briefly re-appeared is 90 Years Of Resistance. The UVF A company mural to the left has also appears to have been refreshed, though it is not known exactly when. Originally, there was no platoon 3. Platoon 4 has its own board, in the nearby Glenwood Street. “This mural is a memorial to the volunteers of A Coy 1st Batt who served the Shankill community so bravely during the years of conflict. Gone but not forgotten. Here lies a solder.”
Since the Hamas attacks of October 7th, 2023, IDF forces have killed roughly 260 media workers in Gaza and 28 in Lebanon. The International Federation Of Journalists in 2025 declared Gaza to be the deadliest place for journalists (Al Jazeera); the Guardian calls it “journalism’s graveyard”.
Seán Murray’s documentary “Journacide: The War On Truth” premiered in Belfast in June as part of Docs Ireland (pdf). It profiles four journalists killed this year (2026) in Lebanon: Amal Khalil (killed in al-Tayri on April 22nd (RSF)), and Ali Shoeib, Fatima Ftouni, and her brother Mohamed Ftouni (killed in Jezzine on March 28, 2026 (PBS))
The one-man play about the life and evolution of David Ervine – from UVF volunteer and prisoner to PUP representative and ceasefire negotiator – returns for a short tour starting this evening, September 29th, at the Roddy’s in west Belfast. Dates for other locations can be found on the Fb page of Green Shoots productions. The play was performed at the Lyric in 2023 and 2024 and toured in 2025 (Green Shoots web page).
This poster is at the Skainos Centre in Ervine’s home area of east Belfast, which will host the production on October 6th.
Copeland distillery in Donaghadee has partnered with Tí Mhadáın/Madden’s Bar in Belfast to produce a whiskey. The wrapped bottle on the left suggests that you take one home with you after sampling it in the bar: “Uısce beatha, níl a sharú [shárú] ann mar dheoch an doraıs. [Whiskey – there is no surpassing it as a parting drink]”
The mural is generally commercial, but a lark – symbol of republican POWs – and a quotation from Cork mayor and 1920 hunger-striker, Terence MacSwiney, are also included: “It is not those who can inflict the most but those who can suffer the most who will prevail. Ní hıad na daoıne a chneánn ach iad a fhulaıngíonn a mbeıdh an bua acu. [It is not the people who wound but those who endure who will achieve victory]”
The car door on the railings is a piece of protest art, entitled I’m Afraid Of The Dark.
The Farset runs from the Horseshoe Bend above Ballysillan/Ligoniel south across the Shankill before turning east towards the city centre at what is now the western end of the west Belfast war wall (“peace line”) at junction of Lanark Way and Cupar Way (Visual History), before emptying into the Lagan. In the city centre, it ran along Castle Place and High Street, but, because it was used as a sewer, it was paved over by 1848 (BBC). It can still be seen (above ground) in Townsend Enterprise Park, former site of the Soho Foundry) and in spots closer to its source.
This new piece shows scenes along the Farset just inland from the Lagan shore, showing goods being unloaded along the High Street docks (here is a map (“ground plan”) from 1685 which labels the Farset as “Belfast River”, and a painting by Joseph Carey c. 1820) and the footbridge used to cross the Farset between the Entries (Visual History) at what is now Bridge Street. (There appears to be a mistake in the map: Pottinger’s Entry is east of Joy’s Entry.)
The portrait is of Henry Joy McCracken, leader of the United Irishmen, who was born and executed by the Farset, in High Street. He was born at 39 High Street (WP) and executed in front of the Market House (shown on the left of the painting) (Lord Belmont) at the top of Cornmarket (BBC) (where Dunnes Stores now is, and before it, Woolworths); he was buried in St George’s, at what was at that time the end of the Farset, where Victoria and High streets now meet.
In McCracken’s right oxter is the gatehouse of the old Belfast Castle, the great majority of which McCracken’s portrait supplants – see the original image at Eddie’s Extracts.
Painted by Graffic Belfast (ig) for Belfast One BID (ig) on Culture Night, on a boarded-up (since anchor tenant Bank Of Ireland departed in mid-2020) entrance to the Middleton Building in High Street, across from the site of the old Market.
“The world’s best.” A new board has been mounted in Sandy Row to pay tribute to Lewis ‘The Croc’ Crocker, Sandy Row’s very own world champion, who “honed his craft at Cairn Lodge boxing club” on the West Circular and became “IBF world welterweight champion” at “Windsor Park, Belfast, 13th September 2025.” Crocker lost the title in June 2026, to the Australian Liam Paro.
On the right is soccer-player George Best, who grew up in Cregagh and debuted for Manchester United at the age of 17. “George Best at the age of 22 was awarded the prestigious Ballon d’Or on the 24th December 1968.”
This is a new board featuring the Portadown True Blues flute band (Fb). The white lines around the second flag from the left in the image above are scratches caused to the board within days of its unveiling on June 20th.
The plaque on the right names “Roger Love, Mark Elliott, Richard Craven, Blake McCaughey”. McCaughey is featured in the board leading the parade in a wheelchair; he suffered from a genetic disorder (BBC) and died in January (2026) at age 18 (NI World).
Here is a small gallery of images from the Redmanville and Corcrain estates in Portadown, specifically Westland Road and the bonfire site. To the trio of boards at the site (seen previously in January, 2026) has been added the board shown above: “In loving memory – from the fathers that shaped it to the son’s [sic] who continue it. It’s our year, every year.” The bonfire, which is lit on the 10th (of July) has its own Facebook page.
Elsewhere in the estates: An elderly woman is drawn spraying graffiti that reads “They’re ashamed of our youth … and that’s the truth” along with “Never give up, never back down. We can turn this place around!”, and an anti-immigrant placard, the same as the one recorded in January.
