PUL

History Girl

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Memories from the History Girl mural in east Belfast’s Thistle Court. (Close-ups below.)

  • We used to go to Church Street East Disco … It was brilliant. Dee Street Disco in the Community Centre was good too.
  • Geary’s and The Tab sold all the electrical goods. The TV rent man came on a Friday. We sometimes didn’t answer the door!
  • I loved Nabney’s, Burkes and Nellie Stewarts. Dora Burnes was a good wee shop too.
  • There was a swimming pool in Victoria Park that opened in the summer. It was always freezing though!
  • I used to buy a bag of broken biscuits and and damaged fruit as a treat, when I went to the cinema.
  • We used to get our hair cut in Sammy Sanford’s.
  • The Road was always busy – shops and bars all the way along.
  • Barlow’s hardware at the Conswater Bridge used to have all the plates and cups outside in crates for you to buy.
  • I drank in the Con Club. It was great – they didn’t let women in!
  • I came from Singapore to live here with my husband. He died and I went home, but had to come back to Belfast. I missed it too much … it’s my home now.
  • My granny had a bathroom. I thought that was great. Our toilet was in the yard …
  • I worked in the Ropeworks and love it … the craic was great.
  • I loved Joe Bump’s chippy – the pasties were great.
  • If you were late for work at the Ropeworks they locked the door and you lost your pay. Hardly anyone was ever late.
  • My grandpa took me to the shipyard and swung me on a crane in one of the workshops. My mummy was raging when she found out!
  • We used to play Kick the Tin … there were sometimes 30 of us all playing together …
  • I loved the smell of Inglis’ Biscuit Factory along the Road.
  • The was The Vulcan, The Ulster Arms, The Four and Twenty, The Clock Bar and The Armagh House. Hastings, who own all the hotels now, used to own a good lot of the bars on the Road.
  • I remember seeing a ship being launched in the yard. It was about 1976 and all the ones from Mersey Street School went. I met my daddy in the crowd of thousands.
  • You got your good shoes in Irvine’s and your gutties in Warwick’s. It’s still there.
  • My granny kept her milk in a bucket of water because she had no fridge.
  • I worked in the shipyard – left school on a Friday and started in the Yard on Monday.
  • Everyone had a net bag made in the Ropeworks. You don’t see them nowadays.
  • We followed the Glens everywhere, but a home match in the Oval was always the best craic.
  • All my mummy’s brothers were in the Army or Navy during the War … they all came back.
  • I remember Stanley Brookes. They cashed your Providence Cheques.
  • We used to go to the cinema on a Saturday morning for the Kids Club. It was always bunged!!

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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1916 Battle Of The Somme

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153 men of the 12th Battalion Royal Irish Rifles (which included men from Ballymena and other Central Antrim Volunteers) died on the first day of the Battle Of The Somme, July 1st, 1916, as they and the 9th Royal Irish Fusiliers attempted to take German trenches near Beaucourt railway station (Royal Irish). According to the account of the movements of the 12th Royal Irish Rifles by Des Blackadder on the Great War Forum, “they were cut down like corn before a scythe”. In all, more than 2,000 men from the 36th Division were killed that day (WP).

The new mural in Drumtara, Ballymena, was painted by Craig Gilmore, who also did the recent tribute to Elizabeth II (see The Crown) (Ballymena Guardian article on the mural, also by Blackadder). The cut-outs (in the third image) are on a wall at the bottom of the estate; the machine-gunner is unusual.

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Copyright © 2024/2023 Paddy Duffy
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To Markets New

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The Saturday market in Ballymena goes back to the 1600s but has had troubles recently finding a thriving home (Ballymena Guardian). The recent streetart by Friz (ig) and NRMN (ig) in Greenvale Street is intended to be a reference to the ancient market and is (probably) inspired by James Guthrie’s 1883 painting, ‘To Pastures New’, showing a girl herding geese in Lincolnshire.

Funded by the Department For Communities, Department For Agriculture, Environment, And Rural Affairs, and the Department For Infrastructure, with support from the Mid- & East-Antrim Borough Council.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Beacon Of Hope

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This is the mental health mural painted by artist Carly Wright (web) and Sam McAleese (of Coven Tattoo) on the outside of Ballykeel 1 (Ballymena Guardian), below a 4th battalion South East Antrim UDA board with the emblem of the 1893 Ulster Defence Union (seen in mural size in Carrickfergus). (For the previous “UDA” version see M05983.)

Wright and McAleese later did a piece in Belfast for HTN2023.

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Day Of The Dahlias

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English artist Sophie Mess (ig) says that this variety of dahlia “represent[s] wealth, change and creativity, a fitting symbol for the [Ballymena] area’s history: rich farmland and mineral deposits meant the town was turned into a prosperous market town” (press-release from Mid- And East-Antrim council, which sponsored the work). Purple dahlias are also said to symbolise “grace, beauty, dignity, kindness” (Saffron Marigold) or royalty (Bouq’s). So, whatever you want, really.

Mess also painted flowers in Belfast for HTN 2022.

Wellington Court, Ballymena.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Unrecognisable Britishness

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Billy Wright broke with the UVF over the ceasefire in 1994 and after being expelled (and the Mid-Ulster brigade disbanded) in the summer of 1996, formed the LVF (WP). The tarp shown above, however, is in the UVF Ballykeel area of Ballymena, which has come around to his anti-Agreement way of thinking in the current anti-Protocol environment. There is video of the speeches from which these paragraphs come; the first paragraphs can be seen in this AP report; the third paragraph (from a speech on Xitter) is followed by the claim that “democracy has been stood on its head”.

“”I am living through the death of our nation, the destruction of our way of life. I am sick of ambiguity, I am sick of the government’s lies and deceit. I will not become part of a process that is designed to ease our people into a United Ireland. They shall demand concession after concession, their small inches will soon turn to yards, then yards to miles and finally they shall have their way, your Britishness shall become unrecognisable.” – No Irish Sea border – Maintain the Union – Defending our heritage and culture.”

On top of a Covid-era “NHS thank you” board on Crebilly Road, Ballymena, next to Somme, King Billy, and VE Day pieces.

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Copyright © 2024 Paddy Duffy
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Remember Me

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“Remember me – Glenn Quinn. Murdered by cowards. We all know who they are!” The body of Glenn Quinn was found in his Carrickfergus home in January 2020. His family believe he was beaten and left to die by members of the South East Antrim UDA; as a result of their accusation they have been threatened a dozen or more times (BBC). The Crimestoppers’ 20,000 pounds reward has now – on the fourth anniversary of the death – been doubled by an anonymous donor. (BBC)

Spotlight investigated Glenn’s death in 2021 (BBC).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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