“Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022.” This memorial board in Stevenson Park, Londonderry, shows Queen Elizabeth around the time of her 1952 accession, perhaps by Dorothy Wilding (left and right) and (in the centre) a 2004 version of the 3-D portrait by Chris Levine and Rob Munday dubbed “Equanimity” (Sotheby’s).
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02038
There are Orange Order lodges in Ghana and Togo and there were previously lodges in South Africa and Nigeria (History Ireland | WP). A photo of the Ghanaian representative in the mural – Dennis Tette Tay – is included in this BBC article. The Canadian representative is perhaps from “Mohawk Loyal Orange Lodge No. 99” on the Mohawk Reservation at Desoronto, Ontario, Canada (Fb).
Vandalised with “KAH” and “UDA scum!” graffiti.
The Fountain, Londonderry
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02162 T02163 in god our trust faith hope charity
“This Sculpture is about unlocking freedom, a community that does not know outward social freedom can still know inward personal freedom. The key to freedom is formed within the heart, each individual has an unseen key that can help a community unlock the knowledge of itself. The Apprentice Angel is a bringer of freedom, he is patterned with keys collected within The Fountain Estate by young people from The Cathedral Youth Club. The Angel holds a large recast key from the Siege of Derry 1689, a key in the hand of an Apprentice that helped turn history, the Past is always present but the Future is key to us all, we alone have the power to unlock it and the right to experience it. Within a community it is young hearts that beat loudest, it is their future that we must help unlock with the keys of Freedom. This was a Cathedral Youth Club project funded by Arts Council Re-Imaging Communities. Sculptor – Ross Wilson. [2009]”
The Fountain, Londonderry
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02166
The [Sergeant] Lindsay Mooney Memorial Flute Band was formed in 1973 after the St. Patrick’s day death of Lindsay Mooney, a UDA member killed by the premature explosion of a bomb near Lifford, County Donegal (Sutton). The band dissolved in 1993 but commemorative nights are still held (NI World). It has presumably re-formed, as there are videos on youtube of the band parading in 2021 and in 2022 and they will march for the 50th anniversary of the band later this year (2023) (youtube).
The board above is in the Lincoln Court area of Londonderry, from where Mooney and the band both hailed. “To those of us who criticise, to those who cannot see, just remember in a foreign land fell a better man than me.”
The Ballad Of Lindsay Mooney: youtube | lyrics
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02050
This is a blue-backgrounded version of the formerly grey UFF mural in Lincoln Court, Londonderry, seen previously in 2015.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02047
These images show the religiously-themed panels in eleven windows on the side and back of Newington Presbyterian.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02031 T02032 [T02033] T02034
900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged in the Belfast Blitz of WWII (WP). in the apex of this mural a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings and play a piano that has been pulled from the rubble.
Painted in 2013 by JMK, in Hogarth Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02030 [T02039]
There has been a 36th Division board on this wall since 2003 (see Steeple Defenders) and this second one is now more than a decade old – see the 2013 post on Peter’s site. It is accompanied by two quotations:
“Pass not this spot in sorrow but in pride/That you may live as nobly as they died.” These lines are also used in a WWI memorial mural in Carlingford Street, Belfast.
“They shall not grow 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.” from Binyon’s For The Fallen.
The mural below, with YCV and 36th Division emblems and a “South Antrim 1st Batt” flag was added in 2016. There’s no mention on-line of “Vol. Jimmy Fee” of the 1st (and only) battalion of the South Antrim brigade.
The board and mural are on the gable next to the Steeple memorial mural to Denver Smith; between the two gables is the UVF flag shown below.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01978 T01979 Parkhall Road all gave some some gave all thank you nhs
Ulster Tower in Thiepval, France, provides a background for 13 jigsaw pieces with partial images relating to the Great War, including a uniform with a Victoria Cross and badge of the 36th (Ulster) Division, the 10th (Irish) Division, the 16th (Irish) Division, and the Royal Irish Fusiliers (and a fourteenth piece for information).
Kilgreel Road, Antrim. The mural is more than a decade old and is bleached from the sun (the pinks were formerly brown); on the former site of The People’s Army (a UVF board).
“This artwork, commemorating the sacrifices made during the Great War and subsequent conflicts, was produced by the young people of Parkhall Youth & Community Club and was completed in 2010. It is part of a larger Re-imaging project undertaken by Parkhall Cultural Awareness Association & Parkhall Community Association.
14 jigsaw pieces are representated as that was the age of the youngest soldier to die on the Somme.
The Royal Irish Fusiliers, who recruited in the Antrim area, served with the 10th Irish Division and 36th Ulster Division during World War I. The cap badge is surrounded with poppies. The poppy is an international symbol commemorating the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and of civilians specifically since the Great War.
Birds were used extensively during World War I delivering important logistic message from the front line.
HMS Antrim served in the Great War and survived. After the war she became the first ship to be fitted with an experimental sonar system in 1920. Her bell can presently be viewed in Antrim Civic Centre.
The grounds of Shane’s Castle in Antrim were used as a training ground and a campsite for the 36th Ulster Division prior to their deployment to France.
Of all bell tents and parachutes during the Great War 90% were made from Irish Linen.
During the Great War a service man’s basic wage was one shilling a day (5 pence).
The sound of the bugle was heard throughout each day in the trenches, starting with Reveille to rouse you from slumber.
‘Flowers of the Forest’, a powerful Scottish lament, is often played by a lone piper at services of Remembrance.
“I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the 1st July, as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world.” Extract from the speech by Captain Wilfred [Wilfrid] Spencer 2st July 1916.
Men from the 36th Ulster Division received 9 Victoria Crosses.
Women played a vital role in field hospitals during the Great War caring for the injured, from the front line.
The flags of the 16th and 10th Irish Divisions.
36th Ulster division.
The Ulster Tower is a memorial to the men of the 36th Ulster Division. It is situated near the entrance to Thiepval Wood, France.
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01982
“South East Antrim UDA UYM. In proud memory of Brig John Gregg, CO Gerry Evans, Andrew Gillespie, Billy Graham, Jamie Penny, Ken Thursby, T. Daly, J. McClure, B. Hobbs, B. Smyth”. Graham replaces William Hutchings, and Thursby is a new addition. The original version of the mural, dating back to 2004, included J. Kelly, W. Gordon, G. Fittis, A. Helm (M05230) – these are perhaps below the fence-line.
Gregg was a hero to loyalists for seriously injuring Gerry Adams in 1984; he was killed in the Adair feud in 2003 (Guardian). Evans was killed by the INLA on April 27th, 1994, shot at his shop in the Northcott centre. (Lost Lives 3472. Sutton describes Evans as a “civilian”.) He was remembered first/long ago (1996) in a Cloughfern mural – see T00217.
Compare to the similar SEA UDA murals in Ballymena and (formerly) Glengormley.
Kilgreel Road, Parkhall, Antrim
Click image to enlarge
Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01983 [T01984]
Paddy Duffy Collection 