community – Page 14 – Paddy Duffy Collection

A Tale Of Ireland

2023-11-122024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Alexander Fitzgerald Irvine was an Author, Minister and local resident [of “Antrim Town”] 1863-1941.” The family home where he was raised was in Pogue’s Entry, now a museum and site of the blue plaque, below, outside which sits the mural above (paid for by Lidl) (Antrim Guardian). (ITV video of the house from 1960 and 1963.)

Irvine worked in Belfast and Scotland before joining the Royal Marines. He moved to the United States in 1888, graduated from Yale and was ordained, took up various ministerial positions in the US, and became a social radical over time (Irish Biography). Irvine died in Hollywood, California; his collection of autographs and letters from 77 famous figures is held by the University Of California.

He is best known as an author and playwright. The book on top of the pile is the best-seller My Lady Of [The] Chimney Corner (pdf), an autobiographical book about “Irish peasant life” written in 1913 in tribute to his mother, who had not lived to see his military successes.

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Cultural Expression

2023-11-052024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Part of the long community mural at the end of Blythe Street next to Blythefield primary has been repainted with these images children at play.

The tinkerbell wall and the final image is from the earlier mural – for which see Each One Teach One.

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Belfast Has The Reason

2023-10-292025-04-21Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“When it comes to punk, New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason.” – Terri Hooley in 2012’s Good Vibrations (IMDb).

The final incarnation of Hooley’s Good Vibrations record shop (Fb) closed in North Street in 2015 (BelTel). It began in October 1976 at 102 Great Victoria Street (Spit Records | Louder Than War | Spit Records) — the shop and Hooley are included, along with footage of the Undertones, Outcasts, Stiff Little Fingers, and many others — in the 1979 documentary Shellshock Rock (UK viewers can watch at BFI | Spit Records has a great write-up of events surrounding the flm’s launch).

The new murals are on and adjacent to the shop’s second location (from roughly 1984-1993), on the other side of the road, at 121 Great Victoria Street, which itself has had “Good Vibrations” signage reinstated by Zippy (ig).

In order, from left to right/top to bottom in this post: in Stroud Street we have “Big-time punk” Terri Hooley by Peaball (RAZER (ig) and NOYS (ig)); on 127 Great Victoria Street we have tartan by Rob Hilken (ig), on 125, “Alternative Ulster” by Alana McDowell (ig) — for the ‘Alternative Ulster’ fanzine, see Fountain Street Spirits; on 123, designs by NotPop (ig); on 121, “Belfast Has The Reason” and “Good Vibrations” signage by Zippy (ig). With support from Linen Quarter BID (web), Belfast City Council (BCC press release) and Daisy Chain (web).

Update 2024-10: The Terri Hooley piece has been paint-bombed

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Cregagh St Gospel Hall

2023-10-202024-10-29Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The paint-bombed version of the sign for Cregagh Street Gospel Hall remained in that state for over a decade, so long a time that this is how it is recognised by many and how it is reproduced in a postcard available in Born & Bred (web) in Ann St.

The image above (and of the shop display) are from October 2023; the image of the old sign is from January 2022. It was repainted in the summer of 2022.

The hall itself was constructed in 1938, on the site of a school, and Sunday service is still held (Precious Seed).

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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Fowl Play

2023-10-172024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

There are lots of different fowl in the Waterworks but the swan is synonymous with the place. Belfasters have been saving up the heels of their loaves and taking them to “feed the swans” at the Waterworks since the reservoir was bought by the Corporation and modified to attact wildfowl in 1956 (Belfast Entries) – it provided an encounter with wild animals and was a free and fun family activity. Disease struck the swans in 1995 (Irish Times) and more than 50 died of avian flu during lockdown (November 2021-January 2022 – Belfast Media | Belfast Live has some upsetting photos) but there are still more than enough for the tradition to persist, though feeding them is now generally discouraged as an unnecessary human intervention.

As a tribute to the iconic bird and its long tradition in north Belfast, Danni Simpson (ig) and Mr Fenz (ig) have painted this larger-than-life swan on the side-wall of a coffee shop next to the upper reservoir.

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Kragfargus Cultural Corner

2023-10-152024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is the second (at least) iteration of an installation along Taylor’s Avenue, Carrickfergus, showcasing the Ulster-Scots heritage of Carrickfergus and its later contributions to the United Kingdom.

The wall is 60 metres/200 feet in length and can be divided into about ten distinct panels – notes on the different panels are given below, following the order of presentation of images, which show the entire wall moving from left to right.

The original, as seen on Street View, included boards showing the Pretani Isles/British Isles, QEII, and Tom Moore. As seen here, there are now boards to King Charles III, a vintage postage stamp, ‘The Siege Of Carrickfergus’ in 1689, and ‘The Barn Mills Fallen’ of WWI.

Fair Fa’ Ye (or “fair faa ye”) is an (Ulster-)Scots blessing, “fair fall you”, meaning roughly “good luck” (Bloggin Fae The ‘Burn | r/scots | Nelson McCausland).

The stained-glass is called the Dalaradia Window. For images and explanation, see Picts Exiled From Alba.

For Dalaradia, see Kingdom Of The Pretani and the Visual History page on Cú Chulaınn.

James Orr, the ‘Bard Of Ballycarry’, was a contemporary of Robert Burns and a United Irishman. It does not appear that he wrote a poem with the line “I wish I was in Carrickfergus”.

Daniel Cambridge won his VC for service in the Crimean War (WP) and James Crichton for service in WWI (WP).

CarrickfergusHistory includes “the oldest know map of Carrickfergus” from 1560, employing the spelling “Kragfargus”.

The 2/6 postage stamp featuring Carrickfergus Castle was one of four in a “Castle series” in 1955 (WP).

Cracker Wee Spot

2023-10-082024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“‘Bout ye?” This “cracker wee spot” – with a “belter!” Big Fish under a H&W crane – is in the alley behind Queen’s Film Theatre (officially called University Square Mews).

Linenopolis

2023-10-082024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

A celebration and exploration of Belfast’s most famous textile, the “linen biennale”, runs until October (web). The Linen Hall library also runs a tour of the “linen quarter” on Thursdays.

Visual Waste’s (ig) Great Victoria Street mural includes various linen quarter buildings: the Grand Opera House, the Europa hotel, and Inst., alongside the H&W cranes and the Titanic museum.

Nomad Clan’s mural in east Belfast also went by the same name.

Ballybeen Makes Winners

2023-10-042024-08-27Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Which direction will you go in? To the negative west of the compass of “choice” lie “Alcohol, paramilitaries, drugs”; to the positive east are “Education, employment, life. On the side panel, youngsters are encouraged to study English, math(s), social media and Google.

And further down Brooklands Drive, “Ballybeen makes winners” in sports: soccer, boxing, and motorcycle racing. The boxer is John Lowey, who represented Ireland at the 1988 Olympics; he is also featured in Boxing Through The Generations and Ballybeen Dream which last also includes three local footballers.