“Welcome to Titanic People, a celebration of the intelligence, creativity and courage of people who define this legendary Belfast neighbourhood. The spot where you’re standing may seem like a rather unremarkable part of Belfast, but it’s the epicentre of some of the city’s most remarkable citizens and their fascinating life stories. Some famous, other relatively unknown, but each born or employed within the sound of the shipyards’ riveters’ hammers and all with compelling personal histories that continue to reverberate locally and internationally. Westbourne Presbyterian Church whose grounds play host to this exhibition, is known locally as the Shipyard Church due to its proximity to Belfast’s famous docks and the home of the world-famous ship builders, Harland & Wolff. Opened in 1880, many of the workers who helped to build RMS Titanic would have brought their families here each week for Sunday Worship. It still serves a local congregation today and the pews inside haven’t changed. When you’ve finished reading about Titanic People, you are more than welcome to come inside and take the same seats occupied by those shipyard workers more than a century ago.”
The installation surrounds the front entrance of Westbourne Presbyterian, the “Shipyard Church”, which was built in 1877 (Stone Database). To the right is a new WWII memorial (City Council planning application), shown last below.
The German Luftwaffe blitzed Belfast on four occasions in April and May of 1941, targeting especially the industrial yards of east Belfast, including H&W shipbuilding and Short Brothers. Nearby streets were hit in the attacks (see Belfast Blitz), and some suffered very heavy damage, including Thistle, Tower, and Westbourne streets. Westbourne Presbyterian church was hit during the war, but survived.
The town of Larne continues to beautify its town centre as many of its shops are shuttered and town down. The piece above and immediately below is by FGB (web) and Katriona (web) in Dunluce Street on the site of Campbell’s pub; the subsequent piece is by Rob Hilken (web) in Main Street, on a site that has been vacant for as long as Google has been mapping streets.
A four-day festival was held in in May, 2017, (News Letter) to mark the three-hundredth anniversary of the departure of the ship the Friends’ Goodwill, which is thought to be the first ship to take emigrants to North America. The voyage took four months – see the Ulster Scots Agency for a description of the challenges it faced and the kind of reception the emigrants might have received in Boston. As part of the festivities, an information panel was added to the memorial, designed by Ed Barton (tumblr), that had stood in Curran Park, since 1992.
“This memorial, unveiled on 16th May 1992 by Professor Bobby Moss PhD of South Carolina, is dedicated to the memory of those first Ulster emigrants who sailed from Larne in May 1717 upon the “Friends’ Goodwill”, bound for Boston. They were to be the first of many. “There is no other race in the United States that can produce a roll of honour so long and so shining with distinction and who shall deny our claim to have done more, much more than any others to make the United States.”
“On the 300th anniversary of the departure of Friends’ Goodwill, we honour the Ulster-Scots who left their homeland to forge new lives in America. Through resilience and courage, their character helped shape a nation revered for freedom and opportunity. To this day, we extend the hand of friendship to our kin in the United States Of America.”
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.”
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.
“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).
