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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Without People You’re Nothing
Belfast east
UVF Motor Car Corps
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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Leaving Belfast
The Ballyhackamore mural by Ed Hicks (ig) – painted along with murals by emic and Alana McDowell – is on the eastern side of Eastleigh Crescent, so that when looking at it the viewer is looking away from the city and towards the … hills – perhaps Scrabo country park.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Lamplighting Time
Episode 38 of the BBC’s “Year ’21” podcast considered the life (and diary) of a lamplighter in east Belfast who witnessed the violence that gripped the city in 1920-1922. The tribute on Newtowanards Road is by emic (web) with support from Daisy Chain (tw) and EastSide Partnership (tw).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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A Wrinkle In Time
Belfast, City Of Industry
The industrial high-point of Belfast, according to this mural, would seem to be when people travelled on trams, cloth was woven by hand, and Titanic sat in dry dock. Only the Shorts-Bombardier aircraft confuses the nostalgia.
Connswater shopping centre, Bloomfield Avenue, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Sacrifice Remains The Same
“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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Bang Up To Date
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
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Together The Possibilities Are Endless
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
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The Glorious Dead
Four of the 700 NHS staff in the UK to die of Covid during the pandemic have come from 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
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Paddy Duffy Collection 