Two dog-friends dig up a treasure-trove of buried bones in the back of Whiteabbey car park on the old Shore Road. Below is just part of the very long nature mural below the fencing.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The new ‘Listening Ear’ murals on the interior garden wall of the Dunanney Centre, Rathcoole, were launched at the start of November by David Healy and Roy McGivern of Linfield FC (Fb). The mental-health messages – “be kind to your mind”, “we are here to listen”, “mental health is a priority”, “#youmattertous” – join the existing ‘community garden’ mural (above) and there’s also a panel of blackboard paint for kids to write and draw on.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Thrive Newtownabbey (Fb) Ace Spray Works NI
“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.” Work to clean up and beautify Devlin’s Lane in Whiteabbey began in 2020, with the large butterfly mural shown above (Belfast Live); 15 (16?) boards showing local history were put in place in August 2021 (NIWorld | Belfast Live). The text on the ‘White Abbey’ panel comes directly from WP.
The project was organised by Whiteabbey Residents’ Association, with funding from Translink – the alley (official name, Abbeyville Place) runs to Whiteabbey train station.
The ‘Justice4Noah’ and ‘Your best is good enough’ panels seem to have a different origin.
The panels are presented here from north to south, beginning with the western side:
The wall then switches to the eastern side of the alley:
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Part of the long community mural at the end of Blythe Street next to Blythefield primary has been repainted with these images children at play.
The tinkerbell wall and the final image is from the earlier mural – for which see Each One Teach One.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This is the new Glen Molloy mural in Carrickfergus, showing a boy practicing his baton-twirling and marching. It’s in the same style as the Little Drummer Boy in the Shankill.
The mural is in Agnes Street, at the far end of Marine Highway, heading towards Eden. The in-progress images below show Glen at work and the mural at different stages of development.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Colonel Edward Saunderson MP, UDU founder, leader of the Irish Unionist Party. 1837-1906. Union is strength. ‘We must be prepared for every possible eventuality’ – on the issue of Home Rule 1893.”
The dates given are the span of Saunderson’s life, not his political career, which began in 1865 as MP for his home county of Cavan.
The bill under consideration in 1893 was the second Home Rule bill, which the UDU was formed to resist. The UDU initially met in Belfast in March; the manifesto of the meeting can be read on page 5 of the [Sydney] Freeman’s for 1893-04-29.
On June 8th, 1893, the Westminster government asked the police for a report on the Union, fearing its goal was armed resistance to Home Rule, and considering declaring it an illegal organisation ([Sydney] Daily Telegraph, 1893-06-10 page 5).
In September, the bill was passed in the Commons but defeated in the Lords. An account of the October meeting quotes Saunderson saying that the organisation should maintain itself by “if the necessity arose” “proving – not by words, but by deeds – that they meant what they said.” (Gympie Times & Mary River Mining Gazette, 1893-12-07 page 3).
Saunderson at the time was (also) leader of the Irish Unionist Alliance (here called the “Irish Unionist Party”) and he went on to be the first leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, from 1905 to 1906 (WP), when he died of pneumonia (WP).
The Ulster Defence Union is employed as an origin-story by the Troubles-era UDA as the UDU formed an ‘Ulster Defence Association’ – see UDU-UFF-UDA and UDU-WDA-UDA-UFF – and the name is used by the post-Agreement UDA – see Daffodil Days.
Owenreagh Drive, Newtownabbey.
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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A service was held yesterday in West Kirk Presbyterian to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the bombing of Frizzell’s fish shop on the Shankill Road. As part of the ceremony, wreaths were laid at the new memorial marking the spot on the Shankill where the bomb exploded, killing nine locals — hence the Arabic “9” among the Roman numerals on the clock face — and one of the bombers (ITv footage). The clock shows the date and time that the bomb went off: 1:06 pm on Saturday October 23rd, 1993.
The new ‘clock’ memorial replaces the three plaques seen in Frizzell’s (though the circular plaque might have been incorporated into this new memorial); the board of portraits served as the cover for the memorial in the days prior to unveiling and was placed over the credit union’s ATM.
West Kirk also contains a stone and bench to the victims of the Shankill bombing. Nine trees were also planted in their memory: John Frizzell, Sharon McBride Leanne Murray, Michael Morrison, Evelyn Baird, Michelle Baird, George Williamson, Gillian Williamson, Wilma McKee.
“We remember those who were killed, those who survived and those lives changed forever.”
“‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away’ Revelations 21 v4”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The plaque above – “Ormeau Road in memory [of] Fergie” – is now somewhat incongruously above painted signage for a coffee-and-donuts shop (Bunelos | web) on the Ormeau Road, a commercial road which is also at the edge of the Ballynafeigh neighbourhood.
“Fergie” is perhaps Iain Ferguson, who died in 2021 (Belvoir & Ballynafeigh UPRG on Fb) and is remembered in a tarp on the side of the flats in Belvoir, shown below. (UPRG is affiliated with the UDA – hence the red hand and the six-pointed star in the plaque, alongside the flowers of the four nations – rose, shamrock, daffodil, thistle – and orange lily.)
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Copyright © 2023/2022 Paddy Duffy
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T01528 T01529 a true loyalist will be missed by all his friends in Belvoir & Ballynafeigh QS Somerset Street Belvoir Drive
The paint-bombed version of the sign for Cregagh Street Gospel Hall remained in that state for over a decade, so long a time that this is how it is recognised by many and how it is reproduced in a postcard available in Born & Bred (web) in Ann St.
The image above (and of the shop display) are from October 2023; the image of the old sign is from January 2022. It was repainted in the summer of 2022.
The hall itself was constructed in 1938, on the site of a school, and Sunday service is still held (Precious Seed).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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X08889 Courtesy of Seosamh Mac Coille
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The Executive Office’s Communities In Transition programme aims to tackle “residual paramilitary activity and associated criminality” in eight areas of Northern Ireland, including the Northland/Sunnylands area of Carrickfergus, which until now has not had any street art. (It does have some community art, also sponsored by Communities In Transition.) They have sponsored this piece of street art by Aches (ig) — reproducing in overlapping triplicate a photograph of a local girl (Fb) taken by Derry photographer Megan Doherty (web) — in Drumhoy Drive, next to the ‘residual paramilitarism’ shown below: a Red Hand Commando board.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 