“1st south Belfast LSC [Fb] remembers. Lest we forget.” “To the glory of God and in honourable memory of the former players from Linfield Football Club who laid down the glory of their youth upon the altar of freedom during the Great War of 1914 – 1918.
The main part of this new board in the Village shows the Linfield memorial at Bertrancourt, France. The memorial was unveiled in 2022 (BBC). The BBC article explains the reference to “Rifleman Walker” in the poem by Johnny Jamison at the centre of the memorial: Walker had been a Linfield player before joining the Royal Irish Rifles and dying on May 6th, 1916. Jamison recites his poem in this Fb video. In the background is the familiar Ulster Tower.
A memorial service was held at the Times Bar on Friday (June 5th) (News Letter) to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the attack on the Times Bar in 1976, in which Edward McMurray and Robert Groves were killed by a republican bomb. (An image of the bombed bar can be found on Xitter.)
Three plaques were added to the memorial garden where the service took place, to William Haddock, James Smyth, and William Flynn. (Compare to 2019.)
As the images from May 10th, below, show, a painted mural was originally planned for the spot.
The colours of the third (Carrickfergus) battalion of the Central Antrim regiment of the Ulster Volunteers can be seen at Sam’s Flags. They are very similar to the piece shown above, except for the addition of the emblem in the top right corner (close-up immediately below) which shows the Ulster Volunteers drilling with a machine-gun mounted in a car, preparing to resist Home Rule – see this 1988 mural and the photograph in this History Ireland article. (See also UVF Motor Car Corps.) In the Royal Irish Rifles of WWI, however, Central Antrim became the 12th battalion (War Time Memories Project).
Next to the Central Antrim flag is a board marking the “110th anniversary of the Battle Of The Somme 1 July 1916 – 1 July 2026. Honouring their courage, remembering their sacrifice. Lest we forget.”
“”Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic”, “Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell”, “A new evil has arisen”. Churchill was right in 1899, Enoch Powell was right in 1968, Pastor McConnell was right in 2014.”
The quotations above the AI-generated image come from a sermon by Pastor James McConnell in May, 2014, at the Whitewell Metropolitan Tabernacle on the Shore Road. The sermon was alleged to be “grossly offensive” and McConnell was charged. The key portion of the sermon read, “Today we see powerful evidence that more and more Moslems are putting the Koran’s hatred of Christians and Jews alike into practice. Now, people say there are good Moslems in Britain; that may be so but I don’t trust them, Enoch Powell was right and he lost his career because of it; Enoch Powell was a prophet and he told us that blood would flow in the streets and it has happened. … Islam’s ideas about God about humanity, about salvation, are vastly different from the teaching of the Holy Scriptures. Islam is heathen, Islam is satanic, Islam is a doctrine spawned in hell.”
In the penultimate paragraph of the ruling (pdf), Judge McNally concluded, “Having considered all these matters and the particular facts of this case I have come to the conclusion that the words upon which the charges are based, whilst offensive, do not reach the high threshold required of being “grossly offensive”. I find myself in agreement with Lord Justice Laws in the “Chambers” case when he said that the courts need to be very careful not to criminalise speech which, however contemptible, is no more than offensive. It is not the task of the criminal law to censor offensive utterances. Accordingly I find Pastor McConnell not guilty of both charges.” (In the ultimate paragraph, the judge cited the poet Rumi: “Silence is the language of God; all else is poor translation”.) A small board has been added to the fence below which presenting this judgment.
The reference to “Churchill in 1899” is probably to volume 2 of The River War, in which Churchill wrote, “Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen – all know how to die – but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
The reference to “Powell in 1968” is to Powell’s infamous “Rivers of blood” speech (pdf) against immigration to the UK from the Commonwealth. As McConnell notes, Powell was dismissed from Ted Heath’s shadow cabinet the following day.
The PSNI is investigating the display as a “hate incident” rather than a “hate crime”, as there is no underlying crime if the home-owner agrees to the board being mounted. The relevant statute deems it a crime “to use, or to display in writing, words that are threatening, abusive or insulting, where the intention or likely effect is to stir up hatred or arouse fear”. (Slugger)
The piece is at the highly-visible junction of O’Neill Road and Knocknenagh Avenue, Rathfern, Newtownabbey, and part of the fence has been cut away in order to afford a better view.
“In eternal memory, UVF Volunteer Jimmy Fee.” This entry updates 2023’s Pass Not This Spot In Sorrow, which showed a painted UVF flag in memory of Jimmy Fee. This has been replaced by a printed board which contains a photographic portrait of Fee. As reported in that earlier entry, there is no information readily available about Fee, who perhaps died around 2016, when the original mural was painted. The two upper boards (in the shape of gravestones) have been retained from the earlier work, while the “north Antrim/Londonderry battalion, south Antrim brigade – remember them with pride” board is new.
Parkhall Road, Steeple, Antrim. The WWII banner is in the nearby Steeple Park.
“From Queens Park to the house of Windsor: thank you for your devoted service.” This entry updates 2022’s The Longest Reign, which celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s platinum jubilee. Although Elizabeth became queen in February 1952, most of the celebrations took place around the bank holiday Elizabeth in early June. Elizabeth died in September of the same year, and the board (after the interim “Booked“) has now been changed into a memorial.
“Rathcoole remembers 11th November. Lest we forget”, “In remembrance” with some lines from For The Fallen, and “Remember them, generation to generation”.
This trio of WWI memorial boards is on the fence of the basketball court along Derrycoole Way, Rathcoole, Newtownabbey, next to an installation of gravestones and sandbags – Row On Row.
The sponsors in the corners of the board shown above are RATH Community Group (Fb) and Dalaradia (web); they previously jointly supported a QEII mural “On The Occasion Of Her Platinum Jubilee“. RATH holds a commemorative service annually in November.
“Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad ~ Michael Davitt, 1846 ~ 1906 … a true republican, a revolutionary and a visionary. This mural was erected to celebrate and to thank all those members of Davitt’s GAC, past and present, who have fought, struggled and diligently contributed to the foundation, development and maintainment of this club in serving our local community of the greater Falls, down through the years.”
Mícheál Mac Daıbhéad/Michael Davitt is famous for leading the Irish Republican Brotherhood and as “father of the Land League”, and a west Belfast CLG and social club is named in his honor. The board in the courtyard of the social club includes twenty photographs of the lower Falls area from the years of the Troubles.
“To all my friends I leave kind thoughts, to my enemies the fullest possible forgiveness, and to Ireland the undying prayer for the absolute freedom and independence which it was my life’s ambition to try and obtain for her.” These words come from Davitt’s will; he died at age 60 (Mayo Live). The mural referred to in the information board (in the final image) was painted for the centenary of the club, in 2012.
This entry updates the images in Sorry It Was All For Nothing, which showed the central board a few days before its official launch, on May 8th. In the few days before the launch, the “garden” area was added, the pebble-dashed wall was repainted, and the small boards of kneeling soldiers – both WWI and modern British forces – were added on either side.
Doagh Road, Cloughfern, Newtownabbey
Update: the board was paint-bombed; Concerned Parents accused three immigrants in a silver Fiat (Fb) of attacking the “war memorial” but Lasaır Dhearg claimed responsibility (ig).
Christopher “Crip” McWilliams has been added this new version of the INLA memorial on Northumberland Street (Visual History). McWilliams was a long-time member of the IPLO and was present at the Lenadoon shout-out with the RUC in Lenadoon in which Bonanza McCann died. He joined the INLA while in prison for the 1991 killing of a snooker-hall manager (Independent) and in 1987 was the gunman in a team of three that killed the LVF’s Billy Wright in the H-Blocks (IRSN | Cory Report (pdf) | MacLean Report (pdf)).
The info board in the final image was originally mounted in 2014 to accompany the version painted on a board which featured Loughran, McLarnon, McCann, and Gallagher, and updated in 2019 for the printed version which added McElkerney.
