“100% less hate”, says street artist FGB (ig), ruthlessly taking over a site of Hallion’s Covid-era graffiti (see Inspiring Belfast | Between The Lines | It Hasn’t Gone Away You Know). Will an east-Belfast turf-war result? Or will both parties just move to the Vault’s new digs down-town (and in the Shankill)?
The mural’s design was previously a paste-up and a sticker (seen in a 2019 post) and a print (ig).
“For every dark night there’s a brighter day.” This mural on the pavilion in Orangefield Park encourages people –young men in particular – to take care of their mental health, and serves as a memorial to Adam “Woodzy” Woods, who died last (2022) May of an overdose (BBC). Skank FM has images of the launch (instagram). With assistance by 5th Element (ig).
“In loving memory of our most gracious sovereign – Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022. God save the Queen.” The platinum (70th) jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, celebrated in June, 2022, was followed a short time later by her death, on September 8th. These two boards in Maldon Street, mark the two events.
The “Shankill Boys” were the roughly 700 men of the West Belfast battalion of the Ulster Volunteers who were almost all killed at the Somme. (This board – or a previous copy of it – was previously in Carnan St.)
As with all of the Belfast battalions, West Belfast had a “USSF” [Ulster Special Service Force] – its emblem is in the top left of the second board, below. (See previously USSF and Carving Out A Place In History) The other emblem is that of the ‘Greengairs Thistle Flute Band’ (web). Although the background comes from WWI, the roll of honour lists modern-day volunteers from the UVF. Thomas Chapman, James McGregor, Robert McIntyre, William Hannah, and Robert Wadsworth are portrayed in Carnan Street – see C. Coy Street. The modern-day C Company, formed in 1974, is named after the Four Step Inn, which was bombed in September 1971 (see Four Step).
Happy sea creatures in blissful ignorance of their destinies as food. On the side of E Kou Xian (web) (lettering, top right) and the adjacent shop Hao Pin Wei (on the sailboat). Also in the street are Lee Foods and the Same Happy café. There is a QEII 70th jubilee mural on the side of the defunct Wai Kee restaurant.
Apsley Street in Donegall Pass, on the site of an old 36th Division board that went back at least to 1999.
“Ulster Special Constabulary 1920-1970. The Ulster Special Constabulary (USC; commonly called the “B-Specials” of “B Men”) was a quasi-military reserve special constable police force in what would later become Northern Ireland. It was set up in October 1920, shortly before the partition of Ireland. It was an armed corps, organised partially on military lines and called out in times of emergency, such as war or insurgency. It performed this role most notably in the early 1920s during the Irish War of Independence and the 1956-1962 IRA Border Campaign.
During its existence, 95 USC members were killed in the line of duty. Most of these (72) were killed in conflict with the IRA in 1921 and 1922. Another 8 died during the Second World War, in air raids or IRA attacks. Of the remainder, most died in accidents but two former officers were killed during the Troubles in the 1980s. [The WP page from which this text is drawn at this point goes on to talk about Catholic mistrust of the Specials.] The Special Constabulary was disbanded in May 1970, after the Hunt Report, which advised re-shaping Northern Ireland’s security forces [to attract more Catholic recruits] and demilitarizing the police. Its functions and membership were largely taken over by the Ulster Defence Regiment and the Royal Ulster Constabulary.
[Accompanying the small photograph:] At the Twelfth demonstration at Finaghy, Sir Edward Carson, the unionist leader, deploring the state of the county, advised the government: ‘If … you are yourself unable to protect us from the machinations of Sinn Fein … we will take the matter into our own hands. We will reorganise [the Ulster Volunteers]’.” [From a NewsLetter article ‘USC Helped Establish Peace In Early Years Of NI’]
Carson’s quote is also used in a Belfast UVF mural. As is noted there, the speech is probably from the 12th of July – Treason Felony | RTÉ – and concerns the reformation of the Ulster Volunteers as a force to protect Protestant interests in the north of Ireland in light of the proposal in the (fourth) Home Rule bill to create separate northern and southern states.
The purpose of the “do not use” graffiti in Braemar Street (seen in Remember The Hunger Strike) has at long last been made evident with this new Belfast antifa (Fb | tw) stencil.
The stencil is in Mount Vernon, which is also home to a series of metalworks – see They Sleep Beyond Ulster’s Foam. That title, as well as the title of this entry, comes from Binyon’s poem For The Fallen, the fourth stanza of which is often cited in memorial for the dead of the Great War: “They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; / Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. / At the going down of the sun and in the morning / We will remember them.”
The stencil is perhaps not only a memorial to the dead of WWI – the planes appear to be WWII models such as the Hurricane or Spitfire (as on the box below, and in A Miracle of Deliverance); most WWI planes were biplanes.
A traffic cone provides a makeshift flower holder in front of this board Clara Street board: “Grove Community Group [Baptist Church (web | Fb)] mourns the passing of Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022″. Charter NI has images from last September of more bouquets and a piper at the board (tw).
Paddy Duffy Collection 