painted wall – Page 52 – Paddy Duffy Collection

Fergie

2023-10-202024-07-20Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The plaque above – “Ormeau Road in memory [of] Fergie” – is now somewhat incongruously above painted signage for a coffee-and-donuts shop (Bunelos | web) on the Ormeau Road, a commercial road which is also at the edge of the Ballynafeigh neighbourhood.

“Fergie” is perhaps Iain Ferguson, who died in 2021 (Belvoir & Ballynafeigh UPRG on Fb) and is remembered in a tarp on the side of the flats in Belvoir, shown below. (UPRG is affiliated with the UDA – hence the red hand and the six-pointed star in the plaque, alongside the flowers of the four nations – rose, shamrock, daffodil, thistle – and orange lily.)

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Copyright © 2023/2022 Paddy Duffy
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T01528 T01529 a true loyalist will be missed by all his friends in Belvoir & Ballynafeigh QS Somerset Street Belvoir Drive

It’s The Spirit We Share

2023-10-202026-02-05Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This piece for Jameson whiskey is on the side-wall of the Vineyard off-license (web) off the Ormeau Road and is by Alana McDowell (ig).

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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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Focused Intervention

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

The Executive Office’s Communities In Transition programme aims to tackle “residual paramilitary activity and associated criminality” in eight areas of Northern Ireland, including the Northland/Sunnylands area of Carrickfergus, which until now has not had any street art. (It does have some community art, also sponsored by Communities In Transition.) They have sponsored this piece of street art by Aches (ig) — reproducing in overlapping triplicate a photograph of a local girl (Fb) taken by Derry photographer Megan Doherty (web) — in Drumhoy Drive, next to the ‘residual paramilitarism’ shown below: a Red Hand Commando board.

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We Welcome The Chase

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

“Let others come after us – we welcome the chase.” The exterior wall of the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters Club presents a gallery of the club’s managers from 1899 to 2018. In order they are William Wilton, Bill Struth, Scot Symon, David White, William Waddell, Jock Wallace, John Greig, Graeme Souness, Walter Smith, Dick Advocaat, Alex McLeish, Paul Le Guen, Ally McCoist, Stuart McCall, Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha, Graeme Murty, Steve Gerrard (and since then, there have been Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Michael Beale, and (currently) Philippe Clement).

Also from the Club: Club: commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History | to the UDR in Some Gave All | to the Highland Fusiliers.

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A Name That Equals Any In History

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

“In memory to all who fought and gave their lives.” This is the tribute to the Ulster Division at the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters’ Club, citing the words of Wilfrid Spender “I am not an Ulsterman but yesterday, the First of July [1916], as I followed their amazing attack, I felt that I would rather be an Ulsterman than anything else in the world.” (For more of Spender’s tribute to the 36th Division, see I Am Not An Ulsterman.)

For the names and information of the nine VC recipients, see Victoria Crosses or Repaying Their Memory.

Also from the Club: Club: a gallery of Rangers’ Managers in We Welcome The Chase | commemorative murals to the UDR in Some Gave All | to the Highland Fusiliers.

Some Gave All

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

“All gave some; some gave all.” During its twenty-two years of operation, 197 UDR soldiers were killed. The scroll on the left gives the dates of the regiment’s operation: 1970 (April 1) was the year it replaced the Special Constabulary, and 1992 (May 31) was the year seven of the nine battalions were amalgamated with the Royal Irish Rangers’ two battalions to form the (modern) Royal Irish Regiment (WP) – the piper in the top right is carrying a flag of the Royal Irish Regiment.

The inscription on the plaque reads: “Ulster Defence Regiment mural, dedicated on the 19th March 2016 by Chairman Roy Burton, Carrickfergus Glasgow Rangers Supporters Club [and] Chairman Stephen Weir, Carrickfergus Ulster Defence Regiment Association CGC. Lest we forget.”

The mural is at the Carrickfergus Rangers Supporters Club (Fb). Also from the Club: Club: a gallery of Rangers’ Managers in We Welcome The Chase | commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History | and to the Highland Fusiliers.

Highland Fusiliers

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

March 10th was the 52nd anniversary of the killings of three Highland Fusiliers, Dougald McCaughey and teen-aged brothers Joseph and John McCaig, who were drinking in a city centre pub and lured to their deaths in north Belfast at the hands of the (Provisional) IRA. The killings led to the resignation of NI prime minister James Chichester-Clark and an increase, to 18, in the minimum age for service (WP).

There is a monument in Ballysillan and a stone to the three in Ligoniel near the spot where they were executed, and a mural in Rathcoole.

This mural is at the Rangers Supporters’ Club in Carrickfergus. Also from the Club: a gallery of Rangers’ Managers in We Welcome The Chase | commemorative murals to the 36th Division in A Name That Equals Any In History | to the UDR in Some Gave All.

New Birth

2023-10-152026-02-07Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Dahlias by emic (ig) replacing a NI Centenary board in Thomas Street, Carrickfergus, replacing a pair of NI Centenary boards.