The Paratroop regiment killed two Protestants on the Shankill in 1972 and the community did not forgive them – compare Stop The Witch Hunt from the middle Shankill with Paras Fight Back – but the flag is now flying at the Argyle Street memorial because, the Belfast Telegraph suggests, Soldier F has links to the area. Soldier F – the Paratroop soldier who is facing two charges of murder on Bloody Sunday 1972 – plead ‘not guilty’ in December 2024 (BBC) and will stand trial in September 2025 (BBC | RTÉ).
“NCC” in the final image, below (of movie characters at the cinema), stands for Newcastle Community Cinema (web) which opened on Halloween night, 2009. The street art shown here is at the organisation’s current hall, in Main Street, home not just to movie nights but activities including martial arts and u3a. The pieces are by Friz (web), KVLR (web), and JMK.
Frosted glass window in the North Irish Horse Inn, Dervock. This Fb page suggests a connection with the 1798 Rebellion; the current North Irish Horse is a light cavalry reconnaissance unit of the British Army, which has a base in nearby Coleraine (web).
The painting of electrical boxes began in earnest in Belfast in 2019 with the Belfast Canvas Project. The idea was also taken up in CNR west Belfast, though without the support of the Belfast Canvas Project.
The five shown here are in North Howard Link, Glen Road, Glen Road, Edenmore Drive, and Springhill Drive and the latter three reflect the ‘community’ theme that the boxes have had in CNR west Belfast – “deeds not words” is the motto of St Teresa’s primary, the second is from De La Salle secondary, and the last is of falling-down buildings (perhaps) inspired by the bombing of Gaza.
The first two (above – artist unknown – and immediately below – by Perla Mansour (web)), however, don’t fit with this theme and are more akin to the ape on Broadway and the abstract lines/clouds in Iveagh St.
“How to cope” is a podcast from the Springhill Park Area Residents And Youth Association (SPARYA) (ig | Strabane Weekly News) which is (probably) responsible for this new piece in Springhill Park.
It has been added alongside the COVID-era “Stay strong – together” piece by UVArts (web) which has been repaired after some vandalism to the two faces in the middle.
“Spread kindness like butter” with the five “R”s: responsibility, respect, reintegration, relationships, repair. Work by Peaball (web) in a similar vein to FGB’s Spread The Love in east Belfast.
In 2023 this memorial stone was added at the left-hand side of Free Derry Corner, reading “William (Willie) Hegarty 1929-2021, born and raised near this spot, life-long republican, left this wall standing to commemorate the Bogside spirit and people.”
Howard Hegarty has kindly provided the following information about his father William and the demolition of Lecky Road in 1975: “My father, William Hegarty, was born and raised less than 30 metres from the wall, to the front and right of it, and my mother was born and raised beside the pump in the Wells less than 40 metres away to the back and left of the wall. So, this tiny area had a special meaning to them and an emotional attachment which lasted their whole lives. … My father was the Building And Demolition contractor that left the wall standing. He had the contract to demolish all those houses in the Wells and old Bogside area and the contract stated that he owned every brick, door, slate, window, tile etc. … everything, and it was his responsibility to remove everything in preparation for the new development. He told his men to leave that wall standing.”
For more on the history of Free Derry Corner, including the precarious nature of the wall when the houses were first knocked down, see the Visual History page.
Amelia Earhart was the first woman to complete a solo trans-Atlantic flight when she flew a Lockheed Vega from Canada to Ireland in 1932. This Galliagh bus shelter has been covered with “Artwork and design: [by] Joe Campbell”, who also did another Earhart piece But What Do Dreams Know Of Boundaries? (as well as The Factory Girls). There is also a large mosaic to Earhart by Tom Agnew in Leafair Park – see Flying Solo – and a piece of street art in the city centre – see Gaining Altitude.
The internal verbiage reads: “On May 21st, 1932, 34-year-old American flyer, Amelia Earhart, became the first woman to fly solo, 2000 miles, non-stop, across the Atlantic Ocean, finally landing in a field in Ballyarnett, less than one mile from this bus stop. She had taken off from Newfoundland, Canada, in her bright red Lockheed Vega plane [NR-7952] at 7 pm the previous evening. Four hours out she encountered a bad storm that damaged the place and blew her way off course. She had been aiming for Paris, but after a flight of nearly fifteen hors, she sighted land. She came inland over Donegal looking for a likely landing site since there was now smoke coming from her exhaust. Unable to find an airfield she followed railway lines that eventually brought her over Derry. After circling the city, watched by the citizens below, she sighted a likely emergency landing spot in a field on the outskirts of the city of Ballyarnett, at what is now Ballyarnett Country Park. She managed to land, clipping hedges, stampeding cattle and nearly taking the heads off two farm workers who were mending fences (Dan McCallion and Jim McGeady). After the landing the two men rushed to see if the pilot was okay. Expecting a man, they were amazed to see a tousle-haired, young woman emerge from the top of the aircraft. “Where am I?” she asked, expecting the answer ‘Ireland’. “Why, you’re in Gallagher’s Field!” came the reply. [Here is an audio recording (youtube) of Mrs Gallagher recounting Earhart’s arrival and stay.] And then Hugh McLaughlin, who had joined them, asked the now famous question, “Have ye come far?” To which Miss Earhart replied, “Only from America.” Over the next 24 hours, Derry became the focus of the world. Thousands came to Gallagher’s Field to catch a glimpse of the world famous aviator and to have their photo taken with her ‘Little Red Bus’ (the nickname she gave to her plane.) Amelia’s record-breaking flight is now considered one of the most daring and significant events of the 20th Century.”
There are also quotes from Jim McGeady and the Reverend Francis Coyle on the exterior.
Here are two long panels of images of the sights and activities in and around Ballymena (below some advertising for TeamKit) in the car-park between Ballymoney Street and Broughshane Street.
Planning for a statue in honour of blues guitarist Rory Gallagher goes back to 2016 (BBC) and the project finally came to fruition this month, January 2025. The sculpture repays the devotion that Gallagher showed Belfast during the Troubles, playing there at least once a year. The sculpture is entitled “On the boards” after the second album by the band Taste, released in 1970, the same year in which Gallagher left the band to pursue a solo career. The photograph that inspired the sculpture – of Gallagher on stage at the Ulster Hall – appeared on the cover of Melody Maker in 1972. (WP)
The statue was produced by Anto Brennan (web), Jessica Checkley (web) and David O’Brien (web) and can be seen in Bedford Street, outside the Ulster Hall. There is also a statue of Gallagher in Ballyshannon, where he was born.
Paddy Duffy Collection 