PUL

Our Community Transformation

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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

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Remember Your Neighbourhood

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“A scramble for the window seat, steam curls as the whistle blows. Clickety clack train on track.”

The York Road railway station was a few minutes’ walk below Ritchie Street – site of this wall-paintings and decorations (and Pearly’s Place, the adjacent community garden) – until it closed in 1992. The original line was to Ballymena and then Coleraine and London-/Derry, with service to Carrick and Larne added later. It was badly damaged in WWII and its final demise came with the opening of Belfast Central in 1976 (WP). It was replaced with Yorkgate in 1992 which no longer serves as a terminus (WP), but the line still runs along behind the end of the streets along York Road and the Grove area of the Shore Road.

On the long wall to the right is written “Remember your neighbourhood in the late afternoon sun. The district was a different place then. All you owned was a box full of toys and a smile on your face.”

Ritchie Street, north Belfast

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Six Mile Water

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A grey heron (above) and a kingfisher (below) sit along the banks of the Six Mile Water. The river rises west of Larne and flows through Ballyclare on its way to Lough Neagh.

Abercorn Drive, Ballyclare, but best viewed from the Main Street bridge. Artist unknown.

See also: a street-art tribute to the river Braid in Ballymena.

Nearby in Ballyclare: Dandelions | The Auld Meetin’-Hoose Green.

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Greens And Yellows

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These painted dandelions can be found outside the Cedar Tree florist in Ballyclare but their real counterparts can presumably not be found inside: According to Biodiversity Ireland (pdf), the dandelion is found almost everywhere on the island and is a species of “least concern”.

By Imogen Donegan (ig) in Main Street, Ballyclare.

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Doury Road

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The official title of this piece is ‘The Estate With Love In It’ (Love Ballymena) but the figure at the centre of it appears to be heading toward some faraway land. Nonetheless, efforts are being made by the proud residents (Fb group) to improve the estate, compared to conditions a decade ago – see the short film from 2013 at Poverty & Social Exclusion.

The work is by Carly Wright (web) and Sam McAleese – who also did Beacon Of Hope in the town’s Ballykeel estate, and a piece in Belfast for HTN 2023 – in September 2023, with support from the Doury Road Development Group (Fb) and the Housing Executive.

Alexandra Park, Ballymena

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