Visible from the Ormeau Road, this large union flag greets visitors to Donegall Pass in the south of the city. It asserts the presence of the UVF and connects the original Ulster Volunteer Force of 1913 to the present-day group one hundred years later: the aim of the original UVF was to resist the impending rule by Catholics under Home Rule.
The image below is of the wall opposite, in the car-park; the names are presumably those of local children, with “WATP” [we are the people] and poppies.
RHC volunteer Stevie McCrea (born 31.5.52, killed 18.2.89) was imprisoned for his role in the killing of 17 year-old Catholic James Kerr in a Lisburn Road garage, on the same day as the RHC bombed Benny’s Bar in Sailortown. He was killed in an IPLO attack on the Orange Cross (the Shankill Social Club). This Village mural is the second tribute to McCrea this year – see also A True Soldier Of Ulster in the lower Shankill, near the former location of the Orange Cross in Craven Street.
The text on the board reads: “Stevie was raised in The Village Area of South Belfast. He was just a young man when The Troubles started but without hesitation answered the call by joi[ni]ng the Village RHC. He soon started making a name for himself by putting himself on the front line with his brothers in arms in the RHC. These men where [sic] one of the most active units in Ulster by taking the fight the republicans. In 1972 at the height of The Troubles Stevie was sentenced to life for his part in a retaliation shooting and was imprisoned in Long Kesh. After serving 15 years with dignity and courage he was released. On the 16th February 1989 just after receiving his last pay cheque [from a transitional work scheme] he decided to join a few friends in The Orange Cross Club in the Shankill area. This would be his last drink as republican scum decided to target the Loyalist club. Stevie sacrificed himself to protect his friend by throwing himself in front of a hail of bullets. Stevie died 2 days later from his injuries in the Royal Victoria Hospital.”
A 1972 Victor Patterson photograph of a UDA mobile patrol in the Oldpark is recreated for this new mural in the Village, south Belfast. “The UDA was formed in September 1971 for most of this time it was a legal organisation. It’s [sic] declared goal was to defend Ulster loyalist Protestant areas and to combat Irish republicanism mainly the IRA. The UDA/UFF declared a ceasefire in 1994 it ended its campaign in 2007.”
The main UVF mural in the Village area of south Belfast was freshened up in 2018. The design of the mural remains the same as before, with hooded gunmen on either side of the UVF emblem aiming directly at the viewer (see the second image). For the previous version, see 2013’s The Village People.
The plaques were added to the side-wall in 2022. This is the third commemoration to Village UVF volunteer Stevie McCrea and the second to Sammy Mehaffy – see Stephen Desmond McCrea and Battalion Of The Dead, which also includes John Hanna, who has a solo board in Prince Edward Pk.
As is often now the case, the modern UVF (McCrea died 1989-02-18 from wounds sustained in the IPLO attack on the Orange Cross, and Mehaffy on 1991-11-13, shot by the IRA in nearby Lecale Street) is mixed in with the 1912 anti-Home Rule Ulster Volunteers and Young Citizen Volunteers, which are themselves blended together with WWI and the 36th (Ulster) Division of 1914-1918.
There are two boards, a large one on a gable and a smaller one on the side wall, to slain UVF members John Hanna (died 1991-09-10), Stevie McCrea (1989-02-18) and Sammy Mehaffy (1991-11-13), with poppies and image from WWI.
Gary “Magoo” McCann is also honoured, as “a dedicated Vol of 2nd Battalion C Coy Village who on the 17-11-2016 was called to join his friends and comrades in the Battalion of The Dead” in a new Red Hand Commando board on Frenchpark Street below the memorial to Sammy Mehaffy, John Hanna, and Steve McCrea. Tributes were paid by South Belfast Protestant Boys and Linfield Supporters Club who called him “a Village legend”.
The Ulster Political Research Group (UPRG) (Fb) is an advisory body to the UDA and produced Common Sense (available at CAIN) in 1987 (and before that, in 1979, NUPRG produced Beyond The Religious Divide, which is mentioned in the long-standing John McMichael mural in Lemberg Street (see We Must Share The Responsibility); this is the side-wall to the new C Coy South Belfast UDA/UFF/UDU/UYM/LPA mural in Tavanagh Street.
Small boards (the same size as the Poppy Trail individual commemorative boards, as in XXXVI) were erected circa 2018 at most of the street corners along Broadway in the Village area of south Belfast. Many are UVF emblems but this one of a hooded gunman aiming at the viewer is a remarkable return to openly paramilitary imagery in the neighbourhood.
Oak Street is a fitting place for a mural about the Siege of Derry, as the oak leaf, shown to the left and right of the board above (and in the wide shot, below) is a symbol of the town, “doire” meaning an oak grove. The gates to the city were locked by thirteen apprentices, against the wishes of Governor Robert Lundy who wised to surrender the city. When the deposed king James II and his army arrived and demanded the surrender of the city of Derry, the cry from within was “No surrender!” The city was then besieged for 105 days until relief arrived in the form of ships of the navy of the newly crowned William & Mary.
The board shown above celebrates 50 years of the No Surrender Club South Belfast (1963-2013) a club affiliated with the Apprentice Boys Of Derry.
South Belfast MP Robert Bradford was assassinated by the Provisional IRA in Finaghy at a meeting with constituents; the caretaker of the community centre, Ken Campbell, was also killed by the fleeing attackers. Taking place in late 1981, with the hunger strikes having ended only a month before, the killing was noted around the world and raised fears of broad civil unrest (BBC | NYTimes). The board above serves as a substitute for an earlier mural to Bradford on the adjacent gable wall.
The bugler in period uniform and the language of the poem are reminiscent of WWI but all of the UVF mural, roll of honour, and reproduction of an old YCV mural refer to the modern UVF and in particular to William Millar [sometimes given as “Miller”], Bobby Morton, and Tommy McAllister. Millar and Morton were ambushed by the RUC on the 16th of March 1983 – Millar died and Morton was injured (Long Kesh Inside Out). Millar was included in an old Cregagh mural – see C00956). Morton died in 2016 (Young Conquerors), hence his portrait shows him as an older man. The same is true of McAllister’s portrait, though no information about him is readily available.
“As the bugler blows/O’er the graves in rows/As reveille sounds/Over death[‘]s parade ground/Where our fallen comrades lie/With our standards proud/Once their deathbeds shroud/We will come from far and near/To salute our dead/And the roles they played/With the Ulster Volunteers.”
The mural was launched on March 19th (ACT) in Pine St. Below the new mural are a roll of honour and a board reproducing a former mural by Gareth Keys one street over, in Walnut Street – see The Young, The Brave, The Fearless.
Paddy Duffy Collection 