flute band – Paddy Duffy Collection

Cookstown Grenadiers

2026-10-212026-10-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The County Tyrone men from the Ulster Volunteers joined the 9th battalion of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, which were put into the 109th brigade of the 36th Division. The Cookstown Grenadiers uses a (modern) emblem of the 36th – combining Union Flag, Maid Of Erin harp (symbol of the Royal Irish Rifles), and a red (right) hand on a field of poppies – as part of its band emblem (on the right, and on the board of photos, below); the WWI-era emblem of the 36th is the red (left) hand in the middle of the board.

The photographs on the second panel are labelled as follows: “First Parade 12th 2018. A special occasion for the band on its first outing. Accompanying our good friends in LOL 196 to the 12th demonstration in Stewartstown. A bond still strong to the present day.”; “Tribute to a volunteer. The band paying tribute to Vol. Gary Holdsworth (office commanding) [see also Along With The Brave And The Bold] at the local memorial in Monrush.”; “Remembering the fallen. A member of the band lays a wreath at Cookstown cenotaph.”; “Band on parade at the 12th of July demonstration in Coagh 2025.”; “Band on parade in Londonderry for the relief of Derry celebrations 2025.”

The third board shows shamrock, poppy, thistle, rose, and orange lily around the Mid-Ulster UVF emblem and the words, “In memory of volunteers from the east Tyrone area who took the first to militant republicanism. Their deeds and sacrifices will not be forgotten. For God and Ulster.”

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Portadown True Blues

2026-09-112026-09-22Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a new board featuring the Portadown True Blues flute band (Fb). The white lines around the second flag from the left in the image above are scratches caused to the board within days of its unveiling on June 20th.

The plaque on the right names “Roger Love, Mark Elliott, Richard Craven, Blake McCaughey”. McCaughey is featured in the board leading the parade in a wheelchair; he suffered from a genetic disorder (BBC) and died in January (2026) at age 18 (NI World).

Union Street, Edgarstown, Portadown

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Loyalist Brownstown

2026-09-112026-09-19Extramural Activity1 Comment

“Portadown True Blues flute band, est. 1968 [Fb].” This is a trio of boards at the top of the Brownstown estate, on the fence overlooking the “Northway” that separates Brownstown from Edgarstown. The flute band draws from both estates and has murals in both.

Both the main panel (immediately below) and the one to the left features WWI soldiers and the 36th Division – the band is associated with the Mid-Ulster brigade UVF (see the old Edgarstown mural in the Peter Moloney Collection).

Atkinson Avenue/Ranfurley Road, Brownstown, Portadown

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Lurgan’s Finest

2026-09-112026-09-26Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Craigavon Protestant Boys flute band (Lurgan), 60 years unbroken, 1966-2026. Our only crime is loyalty.” Five new boards have been mounted at Mourne Road/Pollock Drive to celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of the Craigavon Protestant Boys (Fb).

The final/right-most board mostly concerns the transformation of the Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers into the 36th Division of the British Army in WWI but the central text alludes to the dispute in the 1980s between some bands and the Orange Order, over the conflation of the different forms of the “Ulster Volunteer Force” from the beginning and end of the twentieth century. It reads, “During the early years of the band the committee were gifted a number of flags but these never made it out on the road, and for the first 21 years the band didn’t have a colour party. That all changed in Spetember [sic] 1986 when the band made the decision to carry for the first time in our history going about the task of acquiring Ulster Division standards, being the first local band to carry this style of flag. While the band was very proud to carry these new standards it caused a lot of issues for the band in the early days due to lack of understanding and ignorance especially among some of the loyal orders at home and in Scotland with the threat of being banned from walking in Scotland hanging over the band for a number of years. Thankfully through education this is no longer the case and many bands now carry similar standards.”

The Orange Order was not happy that bands that were affiliated with paramilitary groups were carrying the flag and wearing uniforms of the 36th Division. In Scotland, Greengairs Thistle flute band – which is associated with the Shankill Protestant Boys and C Company in the west Belfast UVF (see the Peter Moloney Collection) – was banned in 1988 from marching in Orange parades (CAIN), though it continued to march in Apprentice Boys parades (Fb).

Nowadays, blending the Ulster Volunteers/36th Division with the Troubles-era UVF is standard practise among loyalist groups, even if the authorities disapprove. In Bangor, for example, funds were secured for a WWI memorial to which paramilitary stones were added at the last minute (see Shared Space).

Mourne Road, Lurgan

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Always On Our Minds Throughout The Year

2026-09-102026-09-17Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Loyalist culture – unbowed, unbroken.” The Sydenham Bonfire is constructed annually on the Inverary playing field and there is now a mural announcing the group who build it, to go along with the bonfire’s Facebook page. The phrase “unbowed, unbroken” has been frequently seen in CNR muraling, beginning with a 1996 mural in Lenadoon.

There is a memorial plaque in the top left: “Dedicated to Reece (Leeper) Leeman. To our friend that we hold dear, hard to believe that your [sic] not here. Thankful our memories won’t disappear. Always on our minds throughout the year.” Leeman, aged 21, was stabbed to death in 2019 (BBC) when he and a friend attempted to raid cannabis from the Kyle Street house of an aquaintance (ITv | News Letter).

Inverary pitches and bowling green, Sydenham, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Outside The Longfellow

2026-08-162026-10-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates An Architect Of Peace, which includes an image (partially obscured by bins) on a small UVF flute band board comprising three photographs of the band over the years. The second image was of the band parading past the Ormeau Road branch of Sean Graham’s bookies, where five people were killed by the UDA in 1992 (WP). Family-members of the victims objected to the display of the image (Crime World) and the photograph was replaced with the one shown above, of the band outside the Longfellow bar.

The final two images show a small vertical banner outside the Longfellow Bar in tribute to Alan “Alio” McKenzie, a barman who died in 2013, one of twenty or more people who died from taking an unregulated drug (BBC | RTÉ); the lounge of the pub is named in his honour.

We Didn’t Last

2026-04-062026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates 2022’s They Said We’d Never Last, showing the space where previously there were four panels of historical photographs from the Ulster Volunteer Force flute band.

For the John Singer Sargent painting in the bottom-left corner of the wall, see Observe The Sons Of Ulster.

St Leonard’s Crescent/(old) Newcastle Street, east Belfast

Our Wee Town

2026-02-122026-02-16Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These placards for two local flute-bands are on light-poles in Markethill: above, the Kilcluney Volunteers flute band (Fb), below, the Markethill Protestant Boys (Fb). The crossed rifles and RIR emblem, and the graveside mourner and poppies, are WWI imagery; Markethill men joined the second battalion of the Armagh brigade of the Ulster Volunteers and (in the Great War) the ninth battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. (See also UVF 3rd Battalion Armagh in Tandragee).

Main Street, Markethill, Co Armagh

Ulster’s Chosen Few

2025-12-292026-01-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This entry updates the images seen at the end of 2022 (in Loyalist Movilla). The UDA board with hooded gunmen (above) remains as before but the tarp below it is new (though perhaps relocated from the Glen estate). The other two tarps are also new: “Newtownards supports British Armed Forces – They served us all” with the emblems of the Paratroop Regiment, the SAS, the RIR and the UDR, and, “North Down First Flute [Fb], LOL 111 Newtownards – Ulster’s chosen few”.

George’s Street, Movilla, Newtownards