PUL

Shrunken Heads

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of images from the Project 24 space along Queen’s Parade in Bangor, whose east wall is frequently painted by local street artists (see the links below for an attempt to keep track of all of the activity).

From top to bottom, these pieces are by Imogen Donegan (ig) and Ana Fish (web), Etchaflesh (web), Keyto (ig) x2, Codo (ig), Ana Fish and HMC (web), Sharon Regan (web).

2024-11 Zoom
2024-04 How About This For Art?
2023-11 Stop Ruining Art
2023-04 Around Every Corner
2023-01 This Is Not The Same As Every Day

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06376 T06377 T06378 T06379 [T06380] T06381 T06382 T06383 T06384 T06385

A Box Of Crayons

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a selection of east Belfast electrical boxes painted with street art.

Above: Face – emic (web) – Templemore Avenue

Below:

Beanie – ? – Portallo Street

Crayons – FGB (web) – Ladas Drive

Wasp – ?NRMN? – Castlereagh Street

Bee – NRMN (ig) – Castlereagh Street

Frog – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue

Be Glad – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue

Mole – ? – Mount Merrion Avenue

In Flight – Imogen Donegan (ig) – Albertbridge Road

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023/2024/2025 Paddy Duffy
T02824 T04277 T06285 T06286 T06287 T06289 T06290 T06291 T06315 [T06316]

Forever In Our Ranks

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates 2023’s Leaders Of Unionism Against Home Rule, which shows portraits of Carson, Crawford, and Craig, and describes their efforts in 1912, with creation of the Ulster Volunteers and the importing of arms into Larne and Donaghadee.

To the original board have been added the two plaques (shown above and immediately below), one on either side:

On the right: “In memory of our absent friends. Forever remembered by 1st East Belfast Mens, Cosy, East End and Laganville Somme groups. ‘They live in our hearts forever'”

On the left: “Jim Holt – forever remembered – forever in our ranks [of the UVF]. West End Somme Association, Glasgow.” There is a large board to Holt in Beechfield Street.

Isthmus Street, east Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06304 T06305 T06306

Marching Mental Health

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The shutters of the Peppercorn café on the Woodstock Road were painted with a WWI theme back in 2015 (In Flanders Fields) and were re-painted in late 2020.

The first panel (above) shows “our wee country” – Northern Ireland, on the occasion of its centenary.

The second features the “Light Of Foot” (web) programme supporting the mental health of bandsmen in Scotland and Northern Ireland. “Marching mental health”, “It’s okay to talk”.

The final panel reproduces (in reverse direction) John Singer Sergeant’s painting Gassed – for a photographic version, also in east Belfast, see Observe The Sons Of Ulster. “Their sacrifice, our freedom.”

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06300 T06301 T06302
T06299 T06303

Winky Rea

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A portrait of Winston Winky/Winkie Rea has been added to the gallery above the Red Hand Commando board in the upper Shankill, taking the place of a pesudo-Mark Twain quote that has been reproduced in a horizontal format above the quartet. (See the previous iteration.)

Like the other three, Rea was a RHC (or UVF) member who then became a member of the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP). On the basis of his interview with the Boston College project, he was charged with crimes including two murders and two attempted murders (BBC | BBC). The trial was still on-going when he died in December of 2023.

“With courage and vision you will dare to take risks, have the strength to be compassionate, and the wisdom to be humble. Courage is the foundation of integrity. – Mark Twain [Keshavan Nair].”

Glenwood Street, upper Shankill, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06136 T06137 T06138

Garden Of Reflection

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a gallery of the metal-works which are inserted (c. 2020) into the fencing along the front of the 1st Shankill Somme Association’s ‘Garden Of Reflection’, and with the (replacement) plaques added to the stone when the wall and gate-columns were rebuilt in 2021.

For images from within, see Because He Loves What Is Behind Him and Somme Memorial.

Shankill Road, west Belfast

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06126 T06128 T06127 [T06135] T06129 T06130 T06131 T06132 T06134 T06133 T06125 T06124 T06123 T06122

Edinburgh Company, Lisburn UDA

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Andrew Mason memorial garden in Hillhall, Lisburn, has been revamped, with a blue background on the gable wall, the removal of two small bronze plaques below the board (for which see the Peter Moloney Collection), a rebuilt lower wall to which two new plaques have been added, and an expanded “garden” with new fencing.

The plaque on the left a new version of the plaque to John McMichael, Raymond Smallwoods, Jim Guiney, and Mason – Glenn Clarke has been added. (Compare with 2023.)

“Sons of Ulster do not be anxious for we will never forget you as long as the sun shines and the wind blows and the rain falls and the rivers of Ulster flow to the sea. Always remembered by volunteers from Hillhall C Company.”

The entirely new plaque on the right reads: “Edinburgh Company, Lisburn Battalion, South Belfast Brigade, Ulster Defence Association – ‘Let us gather, hearts entwined,/To celebrate a life that once did shine,/Our dear comrades, a soul so bright,/A testament to loyalty and highland light,/Their spirit lingers, a gentle breeze,/A life well lived, forever at ease.'” “Edinburgh Company” perhaps indicates the source of the funds that made the modifications possible.

Hillhall Gardens, Lisburn

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06095 T06096 T06097 T06098

Welcome To Loyalist Ballymacash

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two boards from Ballymacash celebrating the union with Britain and the centenary of Northern Ireland. The pair mark the western (above) and eastern (below) entrances to the estate (along with Loyalist Ballymacash). The estate is known for its large bonfire (see e.g. these images from 2018).

The centenary board has an unusual emblem between the names of the six counties, putting an Ulster Banner on top of a Union Flag on a shield surrounded by a garland of English roses.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025/2023 Paddy Duffy
T06105 T02330

Our Community Transformation

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ivan Davis was a DUP and then UUP politician who was a Lisburn borough councillor (and mayor 1991-1993) and member of the Assembly for Lagan Valley from 1998 to 2003, before being ousted in favour of the anti-Agreement Jeffrey Donaldson (BBC). He died in 2020 (BelTel). The stone in his memory is in the garden at the top of Old Warren: “In memory of Ivan Davis O.B.E. Freeman of the city of Lisburn, a dedicated honourable public servant who worked tirelessly for the entire community of Lisburn.”

The boards on the wall were seen previously in 2023’s Conflict To Peace – which includes a colour photograph of the old UDA mural – and 2024’s Faith, Blood, Service, Sacrifice.

Avonmore Park, Old Warren, Lisburn

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06099 T06100 T06101 T06102 T06103 T06104