Union Flag – Page 5 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Welcome To Loyalist Ballymacash

2025-01-262026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Here are two boards from Ballymacash celebrating the union with Britain and the centenary of Northern Ireland. The pair mark the western (above) and eastern (below) entrances to the estate (along with Loyalist Ballymacash). The estate is known for its large bonfire (see e.g. these images from 2018).

The centenary board has an unusual emblem between the names of the six counties, putting an Ulster Banner on top of a Union Flag on a shield surrounded by a garland of English roses.

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Ulster First Flute

2025-01-022026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Ulster First Flute mural in Linfield Road will be twenty-eight years old this year (2025). There is an image in the Collection from 1998 and images in the other collections from 1997, 2009, and 2018. The band formed in 1996, according to its Fb page, though at the bottom the text reads “Est. 1997”.

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Cuidich’N Righ

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The festive atmosphere depicted along the bottom of the Pride Of Ballybeen flute band’s new mural, with people clapping and waving and doing cartwheels as the parade passes by, is in contrast with the regimental emblems in the upper part of the mural: we see (on the left-hand side; first close-up below) the Highlanders (“Cuidich’n Righ” is Scots Gaelic for “Help the king”) and the Irish Guards (motto “quis separabit”; 1783 is the year the Order Of St Patrick was created), and (right-hand side, second close-up below), the Royal Irish Regiment and the Logistics Corp (motto “Honi soit qui mal y pense“). These are perhaps regiments in which band-members serve or have served; the band does not have a (public) internet presence.

For the previous mural, see Pride Of Ballybeen.

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This Divided Ulster Community

2024-12-012026-10-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The South Belfast UDA/UFF commander John McMichael was killed by an IRA car bomb in 1987. In addition to organising a team of assassins in the 70s and 80s, he founded a Political Research Group and wrote two documents proposing an independent Northern Ireland. The memorial garden, shown in full in the image below, is just off Sandy Row, near the John McMichael Centre.

“There is no section of this divided Ulster community which is totally innocent or indeed totally guilty, totally right or totally wrong. We all share the responsibility for creating the situation, either by deed or by acquiescence. Therefore, we must share the responsibility for finding a settlement and then share the responsibility of maintaining good government.” (John McMichael 1948-1987) (See also: We Must Share The Responsibility)

The same thirteen names that appear on the South Belfast UDA A battalion “roll of honour” plaque in the McMichael memorial garden in City Way, off Sandy Row also appear in the small (4′ x 3′) reproduction of a mural (2005 M02408) from nearby Rowland Way, which was itself a repaint of an earlier (see 1995 M01183 and 2001 M01518) mural, though updated to note the “distinguished service” of Samuel Curry.

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1st July 1916

2024-11-262025-01-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a mural with a twenty-year history, in Watson Street, Portadown.

The mural began with the single panel on the left (2004 D01505) which shows a red hand on top of a St Andrew’s Saltire. Three panels were then added: and Ulster Banner, a Union Flag, and a red hand, along with the title “Battle Of [The] Somme, 1st July 1916” (see C01914 from 2010), though the connection to the Somme is unclear. The whole thing was repainted without the red hand in the fourth panel (perhaps c. 2012 – Street View and M10297 from 2013).

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Portadown Defenders Flute Band

2024-11-262025-01-01Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Portadown Defenders flute band formed in Levaghery Orange Hall, Killycomain, 23rd Sept 1971. From strength to strength, the band remains an institution ingrained in history, that has stood for over 50 years. Simply the best.”

Portadown Defenders flute band (Fb) unveiled this new installation on April 6th (Fb). The band also has a board in Union Street. The the lion and the unicorn (above) are from the UK coat of arms

Princess Way/Gloucester Street, Portadown

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North Belfast Friends Of The Somme

2024-11-172024-12-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The rosette at the centre of the poppy wreath shows the UK armed services badge (with the crown overlaid by the Ulster Banner) surrounded by a verse from Binyon’s ‘For The Fallen’ and “Tiger’s Bay – York Street – Sailortown loyal”. That group’s Facebook page is private and no home-page seems to be available for ‘North Belfast Friends Of The Somme’.

North Queen Street, Tiger’s Bay, Belfast, at the old Lewis Street.

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The Glorious Revolution

2024-11-152026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The story of William in Ireland has been a recent favourite in PUL displays (e.g. Newtownabbey | Carrickfergus | Shankill); this version is novel in adding a letter from June 30th, 1688, both in transcription and facsimile, under the heading of the “Glorious Revolution”. In it, the “Immortal Seven” tell William, the Prince Of Orange, that 95% of English people want a change in monarch. William arrived in England in November, 1688, and in Ireland in June, 1690.

The Williamite Trail (from October) joins an earlier tribute (June) to Elizabeth II on the years of her silver, ruby, gold, diamond, sapphire, and platinum jubilees (1977, 1992, 2002, 2012, 2017, and 2022).

For another combination of William and Elizabeth, see Elizabeth, Queen Of Orange.

This sub-station is the site of the infamous “Join The UDA” mural of 2015 (one | two).

Oakfield Crescent, Oakfield/Glenfield, Carrickfergus

Forever

2024-11-152024-12-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Forever in our heart: HM Queen Elizabeth II, April 21, 1926 – September 8, 2022” and “Greenisland celebrates King Charles III, coronation 6th May, 2023.” Charles assumed (“acceded to”) the UK throne immediately upon the death of Elizabeth in September, in order to maintain the monarchy’s unbroken rule; it was not announced until the morning of the 10th (WP) and the coronation ceremony took place eight months later.

Glenkeen Avenue, Greenisland.

In Defence Of Our Country

2024-11-062026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Privates Fred Starrett and James Cummings died in an IRA bombing on Belfast’s Royal Avenue on February 24th, 1988, two of the 197 UDR soldiers who died violently during the twenty-two year life-span of the regiment (UDR Association). The pair are also remembered in a UDR display in Thorndyke Street.

The poem on the right hand side (“as poppy petals gently fall …” by John Potter) is the same as on the Parkhall (Antrim) UDR board.

Ogilvie Street, east Belfast – compare the entry on the same wall from September.

“This project was completed through Belfast City Council’s ‘Promoting the Positive Expression of Cultural Heritage’ Programme, with funding through the EU Programme for Peace & Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Region of Ireland (PEACE III) under Priority 1.1. Building Positive Relations at a local level.”