Jon “Ugg” Clifford died in 2011, having founded Tristar Boys FC (web) in 1974. Bull Park in Creggan has been renamed in his honour and this portrait on boards has been mounted next to the park.
(BelTel | Derry Journal)
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02138
This piece was originally launched in 2014 and is now much the worse for wear. It celebrates the role of women in the cultural and economic life of Derry.
For the piece in its hey-day, see the Seosamh Mac Coılle collection.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T02140
Castle Arcade is so-called because it is the site of both the original castle of Belfast, built by the Normans in the late 12th century and then rebuilt by Arthur Chichester in 1611. Chichester’s castle had “spacious gardens which extended from the river along to Cromac Woods and near Stranmillis” with “orchards, bowling greens and cherry gardens … fish ponds,” for “hunting, hawking, and other sports”. It was destroyed by fire in 1708 after which the area became commercialised as a market (ArchiSeek | Mary Lowry | BBC | Belfast Entries).
By Friz (ig) and Gerry Norman (ig).
See previously: You’ve Got The Key Of The Street.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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There has been a 36th Division board on this wall since 2003 (see Steeple Defenders) and this second one is now more than a decade old – see the 2013 post on Peter’s site. It is accompanied by two quotations:
“Pass not this spot in sorrow but in pride/That you may live as nobly as they died.” These lines are also used in a WWI memorial mural in Carlingford Street, Belfast.
“They shall not grow old as we that are left grow old./Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn./At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.” from Binyon’s For The Fallen.
The mural below, with YCV and 36th Division emblems and a “South Antrim 1st Batt” flag was added in 2016. There’s no mention on-line of “Vol. Jimmy Fee” of the 1st (and only) battalion of the South Antrim brigade.
The board and mural are on the gable next to the Steeple memorial mural to Denver Smith; between the two gables is the UVF flag shown below.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01978 T01979 Parkhall Road all gave some some gave all thank you nhs
“South East Antrim UDA UYM. In proud memory of Brig John Gregg, CO Gerry Evans, Andrew Gillespie, Billy Graham, Jamie Penny, Ken Thursby, T. Daly, J. McClure, B. Hobbs, B. Smyth”. Graham replaces William Hutchings, and Thursby is a new addition. The original version of the mural, dating back to 2004, included J. Kelly, W. Gordon, G. Fittis, A. Helm (M05230) – these are perhaps below the fence-line.
Gregg was a hero to loyalists for seriously injuring Gerry Adams in 1984; he was killed in the Adair feud in 2003 (Guardian). Evans was killed by the INLA on April 27th, 1994, shot at his shop in the Northcott centre. (Lost Lives 3472. Sutton describes Evans as a “civilian”.) He was remembered first/long ago (1996) in a Cloughfern mural – see T00217.
Compare to the similar SEA UDA murals in Ballymena and (formerly) Glengormley.
Kilgreel Road, Parkhall, Antrim
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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A ship’s figurehead (perhaps) cranes upwards – as the viewer must also do – in front of a background of decaying tile-work. Perhaps the decay is being left behind? In any case, Belfast City Council thought a suitable symbol of Belfast moving onward and upwards when used the art to announced the Belfast Stories project (tw; see The Rising Place).
The piece is by Irony (tw | ig | Fb | tumblr). According to Adam Turkington, Irony was inspired by “the commercial themes in Ciaran Carson’s many visions of Belfast” (Belfast Live). (Belfast Confetti was the inspiration for emic’s piece in Winecellar Entry.)
In Pottinger’s Entry. There is a separate Visual History page on the Belfast entries and the recent (2020 onward) efforts to beautify them.
See also: The Verticality Of The Divine | Tile Refinery.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
T01706
They have on their Halloween costumes, but can you name all of the politicians (some local, some from Britain) that are partying in courtyard of the Dark Horse, Belfast?
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01688
Easter marks the unofficial start of the PUL marching season, with many marches today by various Apprentice Boys bands. The season runs until the end of August, with a high point around July 12th (Parades Commission | CAIN calendar). The painting above (by Ciaran Gallagher (ig) in the Dark Horse courtyard for a nine-part series called The Friend At Hand) packs in many familiar tropes: King Billy on a banner, kerb-stones painted red-white-and-blue, the Israeli flag flying from a lamp-post, and a bottle of Buckfast lying in the gutter. Decorating the skin, however, is rare, and the use of Irish – “an cara ıdır lamha [lámha]” [“in aıce láımhe” or “ag an láımh”] – on a Lambeg drum is unknown.
The other panels in the group of three show a boxer being attended to in his corner at the King’s Hall and a masked man leaving the EU and heading for Mexico off with an ATM in the bucket of an excavator.
Six more are included together, below: a fisherman is rescued from drowning; a medic attended to an injured player; the Samaritans helpline; a firefighter carries two people from a burning building; a surgeon operates; a chaplain reads to troops.
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Copyright © 2022/2023/2024 Paddy Duffy
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Four of the 700 NHS staff in the UK to die of Covid during the pandemic have come Northern Ireland, the most recent being dementia specialist Alan Henry in Antrim hospital (Express | BelTel | iTV). In the south, Defence Forces have been deployed to three nursing homes while 6,400 health workers are off sick (Irish Times). The mural above shows a masked nurse and doctor among a field of poppies. It has been added below the three painted boards commemorating Titanic, the Somme, and the WWII Blitz.
On the exterior of the Connswater Community Centre, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
T01641
Famous faces and landmarks from east Belfast: Van Morrison, CS Lewis, George Best, David Holmes, Harland & Wolff, Holywood Arches, Strand Arts Centre, Danny Blanchflower, Lucy Caldwell, Marie Jones, Sam McCready, Gary Moore, James Ellis, St Mark’s Dundela, Eric Bell, Dee Craig (the artist).
Connswater Street, east Belfast
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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Paddy Duffy Collection 