Belfast east

UVF Motor Car Corps

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The first time that the horseless carriage was used in a military operation was the Ulster Volunteers’ “Larne Gunrunning” of April 1914. By this time, there are thought to have been 350 vehicles in the Corps (Angelsey). It’s not clear whether the cars were later used by the 36th (Ulster) Division – please comment/get in touch if you can shed light on this. (For Spencer’s quote on the left, see I am not an Ulsterman.) The plaque is to (modern) UVF volunteer ‘Squeak’ Seymour.

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Sacrifice Remains The Same

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“Time changes! But the sacrifice remains the same.” The board shows, in black and white, a WWI soldier, who is comforting another solider, in modern gear and in colour. The emblems of the 36th (Ulster) division and Royal Irish Rifles are also shown. Sponsored by the EU and the Cosy Somme Association. This is a repainted version of the original (late 2013) board which had faded badly.

The same board, at smaller scale, can also be found on Whitehead Orange hall.

Ogilvie Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Together The Possibilities Are Endless

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This east Belfast mural showing hands of many colours holding up a heart-shaped earth was produced last year in tandem with a diversity night in memory of the Pakistani-born owner of the Spar on whose side it is painted (Belfast Media).

Replaces the Lagan Village BMX mural in Dunvegan Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01659 [T01658]

Bang Up To Date

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The previous UVF mural in Carrington Street (Volunteering | On Your Side) was paint-bombed in October, 2020, (Keep It Local) but was quickly replaced by this computer-generated board showing the Harland & Wolff cranes, a Long Kesh watch-tower, and a hooded gunman from the UVF’s East Belfast Battalion.

Carrington Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01657

The Glorious Dead

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Four of the 700 NHS staff in the UK to die of Covid during the pandemic have come Northern Ireland, the most recent being dementia specialist Alan Henry in Antrim hospital (Express | BelTel | iTV). In the south, Defence Forces have been deployed to three nursing homes while 6,400 health workers are off sick (Irish Times). The mural above shows a masked nurse and doctor among a field of poppies. It has been added below the three painted boards commemorating Titanic, the Somme, and the WWII Blitz.

On the exterior of the Connswater Community Centre, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01641

The Shipyard

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The 36th (Ulster) Division Memorial Association (Fb) put on a play called From The Shipyard To The Somme (Fb | watch on youtube) in Connswater Community Centre in 2013. It follows a group of men from east Belfast who joined the Ulster Volunteers in Belfast but are now training at Abercorn barracks in Ballykinlar (later an internment camp) as members of the 36th Division, before going to the Battle Of The Somme in France.

Belfast – with one tenth of the population – provided about a third of the Irish soldier to participate in WWI. In the shipyards, Harland & Wolff responded to the slow-down in production not by putting everyone on short time but by letting go of employees, particularly unskilled employees, for whom the wages of soldiering were competitive (particularly if married), while skilled men were reclassified as “munitions workers” needed to fulfill war contracts (History Ireland | Long Kesh Inside Out).

Connswater Street, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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