printed board/placard

A Letter To The 22

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“I gcuımhne na nÓglach a fuaır bás ar son saoırse [in memory of the volunteers who died for freedom].” The “22” are the familiar 12 deceased Troubles-era hunger-strikers, plus 10 from 1917 to 1946: Thomas Ashe, Terence McSwiney, Michael Fitzgerald, Joseph Murphy, Joe Witty, Dennis Barry, Andy O’Sullivan, Tony Darcy, Jack McNeela, Sean McCaughey.

“‘A Letter To The 22: You have not gone away. You are in the hearts/and on the lips of your people./The old speak of you with knowing tongue. The middle/aged, as those who walked beside you./The young men and women with a passion not unlike your own./Your names can be heard on the wind taken from the mouths/of men who tend their flocks on Slieve Gullion, Cnoc Phádraıg, Glenshane./They echo in small graveyards in/Cork, Kerry, Galway, Mayo, Tyrone, Antrim, Derry and Armagh./They are heard among your people at the mass gate on/Sunday, in the crowd at the hurling game, around the hearth when/the bottle is cracked and song in sung. Your image can be seen/on the faces of happy smiling children for whose freedom you gave your all./You are in our prayers, you have not gone away, you never will’ – Colum Mac Gıolla Bhéın“

For the same 22, see Staılc Ocraıs. Replaces a painted mural to Joe McDonnell.

Suffolk Road, west Belfast

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Éıreannaıgh Sınne!

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“Ní coırpıgh sınne! Éıreannaıgh sınne! [we are not criminals; we are Irish people] “There is that much to be done that no select or small portion of people can do; only the greater mass of the Irish nation will ensure the achievement of a socialist republic, and this can only be done by hard work and sacrifice.” – Bobby Sands [Hunger strike diary, March 14th, 1981]” With photographs of the ten deceased 1981 hunger strikers.

Falcarragh Drive, Lenadoon, Belfast.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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On The Occasion Of Her Platinum Jubilee

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“The people of Rathcoole send their sincere and heartfelt congratulations to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the historic occasion of Her Platinum Jubilee.” The Monday at the end of May is usually a bank holiday in the UK, but this year it is being postponed until the end of the week and combined with an additional one to create a four-day weekend beginning this Thursday in celebration of the 70th (“platinum”) anniversary of the accession of Elizabeth on February 6th, 1952 (the coronation was on June 2nd, 1953).

The mural centrally shows an official portrait from 1992, wearing the orders of George VI and George V; the four medallions show Elizabeth at her birth, her coronation, “trooping the colour” on her birthday, and 70th wedding anniversary in 2017.

With support from RATH (Rathcoole Achieving, Transforming, Helping each other) and Dalaradia (web). For another Dalaradia board in Rathcoole, see Dalaradia; for a Cú Chulaınn version of the Dalaradia board, see Defending Ulster From Gaelic Attacks.

Clonmore Drive, Rathcoole

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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As Proud Men

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“Where so ever, how so ever or whenever we are called upon to make our exit, we will do as proud men.” This is quite a different message from the one produced within the Rathcoole estate for the 50th anniversary of the Red Hand Commandos, which stated that despite its venerable age, the four Rathcoole companies of the RHC “Await In The Shadows“. (That mural also depicted the kneeling men with sticks (on the left of today’s mural) and the linked post also contains the original photograph.)

It’s not clear who or what within loyalism might call upon the RHC to stand down; loyalist rhetoric at the moment is full of anger at the protocol and warnings/threats about of a return to violence (e.g. BelTel | BBC).

For the use of “Lamh Dear Abu” as the slogan, see Ulster Says “Tá”.

O’Neill Road, Newtownabbey.

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Copyright © 2022 Paddy Duffy
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Sons Of KAI

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Sons Of Kai flute band (ig) re-formed in 2006 (youtube | Coin Talk) but here claims as its origin date “1972”. IWM gives the founding year as 1970, and quotes one of the founders, Bo Kerr, saying that the band was named after Danish soccer player Kai Johansen (WP), who played for Rangers from 1965-1970, and that the “tartan” gang (History Ireland) ‘Rathcoole KAI’ subsequently took its named from the band. Then (BelTel) and now (Irish News | Slugger) “KAI” is understood to stand for “Kill All Irish”. A 1982 image of the Rathcoole KAI “red devils” mural can be seen in the Ciaran McGowan collection at IWM.

See also: Kai Johansen’s Bar.

Abbot’s Cross and Rathmullin Way, Newtownabbey

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Our British Birthright

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This pair of UVF boards are on the wall of the Fern in Rathcoole and right next to the UDA markings seen in Rathcoole UDA. Included in the 1st East Antrim are both local areas (Carrickfergus, Ballyduff, Ballyclare, Greenisland, Glengormley, Monkstown, Rathcoole, Larne, Whitehead) and affiliated British units (Drumchapel (Glasgow, Scotland), Blackpool (England), Corby (England), Paisley (Scotland), Liverpool (England), Possilpark (Glasgow), Blairgowrie (Scotland), Falkirk (Scotland), and Springburn (Glasgow)) of the 1st East Antrim Battalion, “The people’s army”.

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Dalaradia

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“Pretani” is the Brittonic version of the Greek term “Prettanoi”, possibly borrowed from the Gauls (WP), for the inhabitants of the two islands now known as Ireland and Britain, and “Cruthin” the Gaelic term. According to the eponymous web site, Dalaradia was “was a kingdom of the Cruthin in the north-east of Ireland and parts of Scotland in the first millennium” with the Cruthin being (more narrowly than above) a people in Antrim and Down with (in the middle of the mural) “the field of Crewe Hill, with the Ancient Crowning Stone of Ulster Kings” (REACH) in Glenavy (pretani.co.uk).

The WP page on the Cruthin notes, “The name Cruthin survives in the placenames Duncrun (Dún Cruithean, “fort of the Cruthin”) and Drumcroon (Droim Cruithean, “ridge of the Cruthin”) in County Londonderry, and Ballycrune (Bealach Cruithean, “pass of the Cruthin”) and Crown Mound (Áth Cruithean, “ford of the Cruthin”) in County Down. These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.”

The towers of Rathcoole can be seen underneath the slogan “Respect, heritage, culture.” They also famously appear behind a trio of hooded gunmen in a Rathcoole mural.

Carmeen Drive, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey

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