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Forever 16

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Caitlin McLaughlin died suddenly on June 24th, 2023. She collapsed from a heart attack as she walked to the bus station in Belfast to return home from a music festival at which she had taken ecstasy (BBC). A requiem mass was held in Galliagh on the 28th (BelTel) and the mural shown here was launched in Brookdale Park on October 27th, 2023, which would have been Caitlin’s 17 birthday (Belfast Live).

“I saw you all, my family & friends/the day God took me home,/I smiled, I cried, I felt so proud/You didn’t let me go alone//To all my friends, please listen now/To what I have to say,/Please don’t leave your loved ones/the way I did that day//I’m with the angels in heaven now/and with our we[e] Kyle too,/But often I look down and sigh/For I’d rather be there with you//Forget me not/XO”

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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This Is The Crew

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“Titanic Gentlemen’s Club [Fb], every Wednesday 6pm – 8pm, Connswater Community Centre. Make mental health great again. Every man has an engine room – you don’t have to maintain it alone. Let’s break the silence and support men’s mental health.”

The green ribbon is the symbol of the campaign to release political prisoners, and “Make ___ great again” is the form of the slogan of the MAGA movement in the United States.

The board was officially launched July 9th (Fb) in Severn Street, east Belfast.

“”BreaktheStigma” for the men who rise, together: We are the voices once held back,/Taught to smile through every crack./But now we speak, we face the fight,/Together stepping into the light.//This is Break the Stigma, strong and true,/A brotherhood of me and you./Men alike, from every road,/Each carrying a silent load.//No shame in tears, no guilt in pain,/No more hiding hurt in vain./We rise as one, we make it known-/You don’t have to walk alone.//We’re not defined by past or scar,/By what we’ve lost or who we are./We’re here to talk, to heal, to grow,/To lift each other from below.//So here we stand, hearts open wide,/With honesty we will not hide./For every man who needs a sign-/Break the Stigma holds the line.”

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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M-Space

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“I am … strong, focused, love, hope, caring, beautiful, body & mind.” M-Space is a project from Springboard Opportunities (web) providing intensive mental-health services for 115 young people.

This pair of utility boxes is on Royal Avenue, Belfast city centre. The backgrounds on the rear were perhaps painted during Culture Night.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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The Drumbeg Omniplex

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These are images of the sub-station at the green in the middle of Drumbeg. Above are children bearing messages of “happiness” and peace (a second trio of children on the right-hand side of the image above has been blotted out by a large pink splotch). The plaque in the top right reads, “A Shared Space & Services Re-Imaging Project supported by the European Union’s Peace IV Programme”.

On the other walls are a goal with points for hitting different spots, the “Drumbeg Omniplex” with “movie coming soon”, and two pairs of Irish dancers on either side of a reflective panel that has now disappeared.

Drumbeg, Lurgan

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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I Owe My Allegiance To The Working Class

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“I owe my allegiance [here “allegience”] to the working class” is a phrase associated with Seamus Costello (b. 1939), who fought for the IRA during the Border Campaign and was interned in the Curragh for two years. He stayed with the Officials during the split, but was driven out in 1974 and formed the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) and the INLA. He was shot in 1977 (WP). Nora Connolly, at Costello’s funeral, said, “He was the only one who truly understood what James Connolly meant when he spoke of his vision of the freedom of the Irish people.”

Drumbeg, Lurgan

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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Ardoyne Generations Bloom

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Etna Drive in Ardoyne has undergone a make-over in the last twelve months. The large board below was mounted in December 2024, the planters added in March 2025, and the boxes along the street were painted in June. The boxes celebrate local groups and initiatives: “Cıceam Ard Eoın [Fb]”, “Ardoyne-Bone Community health & leisure trust [Fb]”, “Community larder. Drop in. Locally sourced food.”, “Ardoyne Association [Fb] Citizens’ Advice Centre”, and the “Lawrenson-Toal academy of Irish dance [ig]”.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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ML and MD

Keep Our Kids Safe

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On June 7th, a Ballymena teenager was allegedly assaulted by two Romanian-speaking fourteen-year-olds, who were subsequently charged with attempted rape and denied bale. Rioting in Ballymena (Reuters gallery | youtube) beginning on the 9th spread to other locales in subsequent days, including Larne where the leisure centre was set alight on the third night (Guardian | youtube). More than 100 people from Ballymena were eventually arrested (Yahoo). Convictions of rioters – which police described as “race-motivated” and “hate-fuelled” – began on August 1st (PSNI); a 21-year-old man was sentenced to two years in jail earlier this month (Belfast Live). Two-thirds of the Roma population have left the town (Guardian).

These flyers are stuck onto a bus shelter on Crebilly Road, Ballymena. “We are not racist; we are concerned parents”, “Two-tier policing”, “Stop illegal and unvetted immigration”, “Stop mass migration”, “Keep our kids safe”.

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Copyright © 2025 Paddy Duffy
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