PUL

Shore Life

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here is a survey of some street art in Donaghadee, Co Down (along with Donaghadee Harbour).

The owls, puffins, and bee painted on the electrical boxes on the Parade are by Sharon Regan (ig) who also did a series of windows in Bangor.

Grace Neill’s (web) which claims to be the oldest licensed bar in Ireland, dating back to 1611.

“S McC” and the artist(s) of the other pieces in High Street are unknown, as is the artist of the octopus on the front of The Captain’s Table (Fb).

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06393 T06394 T06395 T06396 T06397 T06398 T06399 T06400 T06401 T06402 T6403
T06053

Ward Park

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Ward Park was acquired by the Bangor “Urban District Council” circa 1910 (Spectator | Bangor Historical Society) and now includes various greens for bowling, tennis, and cricket, as well as a playground for children. A series of ponds runs through the park, home to ducks and other wildlife. (For detailed maps of the park, see Bangor By The Sea’s plans of the current on-going renovations.)

This new art is by Danni Simpson (web) and Karl Fenz (web) for Ards & North Down borough council (web).

There is also a duck on an electrical box, painted by Sharon Regan (ig), and an info board about the 50-person WWII air-raid shelter that still stands in the park.

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06390 T06386 [T06387] T06388 [T06389]
T06391 T06392

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

Remember Your Neighbourhood

Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“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

Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
T06106 T06107 T06108 T06110 T06109