Armagh won the All-Ireland Senior football championship in 2024, with a squad that included three players from Crossmaglen: Oısín O’Neill, Cıan McConville, and Rían O’Neill.
In the bottom-left corner, players from Crossmaglen Rangers turn to face the Irish tricolour, flanked by the club flag and the flag of Palestine – the flags fly below the watchtower of a British Army barracks (perhaps based on an image from the 2005 Armagh final – Irish Times).
On the right is an umbrella in pride colours, below which people can pose and take pictures: “Snap & tag us”.
This is a revised version of the mural, which originally bore the Ernesto Cardenal quote, “They tried to bury you/us but they didn’t know you/we were seeds” (ig).
St James’s Community Farm/Feırm Phobaıl Naomh Séamus (web | Fb) started in 2015 with a dozen hens; it is now home to 38 animals, produces vegetables and eggs, and collects cans for recycling.
Belfast Media recently profiled the farm (in print) and is producing a series of short videos about the farm: one | two | three (on youtube).
This is an old mural still in reasonable condition after more than a decade in existence. It is along the walkway between Tamar and Severn streets in east Belfast. The East End Homing Pigeon club was (is?) at 51 Severn Street (Belfast Forum).
For the piece in better condition (in 2011) see the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection.
This new mural below Teach Gráınne in the New Lodge features locals Anthony Duffy and Hugh Russell.
Duffy was a youth leader in Artillery and Trinity clubs (Xitter); he died in July of this (2025) year. Russell was a champion boxer in the 80s and then an Irish News photographer; he died in October 2023 (Irish Times).
Painted by young people from Artillery Youth Centre (Fb).
This is a second gallery of just some of the electrical boxes that have been painted in Newry in recent years, particularly 2024’s ‘Street Dreams’ initiative (web). (See previously Street Dreams.)
“What’s the quack?” and “Pure Class” are by Visual Waste (web), the boat made of harp and fiddle is by JMK (ig), the purple face, the covered wagon, and the draft-horse are by Friz (web), “looking at the stars” and “Queer to stay” are by FrankieB (ig), “Oh happy day” is related to the Choir Studio (Fb), and the boombox is by Aoife Gorman (ig).
This is a colourful new mural painted by Cha Cha (Carla Hodgson) (ig) and local children at the Bankmore end of Maryville Street (BBC). Local landmarks (from left to right) include Nuala With The Hula (a.k.a. Beacon Of Hope), Broadcasting House, Samson and Goliath, the Albert clock, and the Big Fish, all in a garden of grass and flowers.
The streets of the West Winds estate in Newtownards are named after RAF aircraft: Lysander, Beaufort, Shackleton, Valetta, Sunderland, Catalina, Auster, Canberra, Lancaster, Dakota, Hampton, Stirling, Blenheim, Anson, and Halifax. (See 50 Years And Counting for a picture of the aircraft.)
The first units built in the estate, in 1970, were Canberra Gardens and Blenheim Drive, just off the Comber Road.
“English Electric Canberra – bomber, photo-reconnaissance, trainer, interdictor, radio countermeasures, drone & target tug … the world’s first jet bomber … first jet aircraft to make a nonstop transatlantic flight … world altitude record”
“Bristol Blenheim – light bomber, night bomber, aerial reconnaissance, heavy fighter, maritime patrol & trainer … the fastest light/medium bomber in the world”
Also celebrated is flautist James Galway, whose parents lived in the estate for a time, and Greenwell Star (Fb) – “Bridging communities through football”. Club members were involved in painting over the UVF mural on the side of the club’s changing-rooms in March (Fb), in preparation for the new board being mounted in April.
West Winds Development Association and Newtownards Cultural Society with support from the Housing Executive (Newtownards Chronicle)
West Winds received its first residents back in 1970 but celebrations of the estate’s fiftieth anniversary were made impossible by the coronavirus lockdown (Supporting Communities). The long board shown here – official title “West Winds Through The Decades” – was launched in 2022 and recounts the development of the estate and the institutions that support it.
Here (from the Fb group 50 Years Of West Winds) is an image of the area before development, which began with Canberra Gardens and the houses along the bottom of Blenheim Drive. The streets are named after RAF aircraft, as illustrated by the second panel.
The third panel gives “A Brief History Of The Estate” (included below) while others describe West Winds primary school, First Newtownards Somme & Historical Society, Scrabo Presbyterian church, West Winds Community Centre, Towerview adult care, Little Doves childcare centre.
In Shackleton Walk, with support from the Housing Executive and West Winds Development Association (Fb).
“The first sod cut early 1969 and the initial tenants hailing from the Oldpark, Shankill, Ardoyne and Newtownards Road areas, arrived under Scrabo Hill to the new West Winds Estate in January of 1970. With the close location to Ards Airport, the street names were derived from RAF military aircraft which were used in WW2 through to the early stages of the Cold War. With the initial streets being Blenheim Drive and Canberra Gardens, this eventually developed into the wider estate as it is today with the help of a Residents’ Association and the Estate being taken under the wing of the newly formed Housing Executive, the street designers’ road layout provided a clear flight path to the airport in the growing roads. The Estate was planted with trees to reduce the strong winds prevalent in the area. Hence the name. Early tenants of note included the parents of Sir James Galway, ‘The Man with the Golden Flute’ and Lt Col Simon Nichols MBE, who instructed our future King, Prince William, and his younger brother Prince Harry at Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. The Tenants’ Association, formed by John McClelland in 1972 as Chairman and Miss Ruth Irvine as Secretary and assisted by other members including Miss Pat Shirley, Deaconess of the local church and Mr James Ingram began work in earnest with the development of the community centre, a sports complex with two football pitches, a tennis court, a hockey pitch, a playground, improved street lighting and a bus service for the growing number of tenants. There was also the West Winds Roadhouse Hotel, initially a part of the Officers’ Mess during the Second World War. It wasn’t long before the Towerview Resource Centre and Loch Cuan Nursing Facility were built. Both are still in operation today, with The Apex Housing Association taking over Loch Cuan, which now includes a supportive living complex on the grounds. In 1997 the West Winds Residents’ Association became active working with the local Housing Executive and various other statutory bodies to continue upgrading the Estate. Funded by SPOD [Small Pockets Of Deprivation] They are now now known as the West Winds Development Association and have been involved for the last 25 years, in Youth Clubs, Pensioners’ Clubs, upgrading of the park, formation of a ‘MUGA’ pitch, fun days, addressing housing problems, community gardens, teenage drop in, girls’ groups, boys’ groups, raised beds, Christmas Parties and numerous other activities and events to mention but not forgetting, the day to day striving to make the Estate a better place in which to live.”
“Jon Clifford’s Tristar FC, Derry, founded 1974”. Jon “Ugg” Clifford died on September 3rd, 2011, while waiting for a lung transplant (BelTel). In 1974 he had founded a youth soccer club – initially for boys – called “Tristrar” (web) in Creggan. The park where they played – Bull Park – was renamed in his honour, a portrait on boards was mounted in 2013 (which has now been replaced by the larger painting shown here), and a memorial championship was begun in 2014 (Derry Daily).
Update: The mural was officially launched on October 9th, 2025 (BBC).
Paddy Duffy Collection 