The Pride Of Ballybeen is a flute band formed in 2014. Their band mural features the Union Flag and Ulster Banner flanking the red hand of Ulster on a six-pointed star against an orange field, surrounded by a crown and a garland pinned by a rose; the titular banner, below, is supported by shamrock and thistle.
Video of the band in action on youtube.
Craigleith Drive, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The emblem of the UFF is flanked by Ulster Banner and Union Flag.
Strone Park, Ballybeen, Dundonald.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This anti-drugs mural in Granton Park, Tullycarnet — “Build a better future for our children – teach them to say No” — replaces a UDA mural – see Release The Political Hostages.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Make drugs history – cleaner communities now.” This is an anti-drugs board in the Tullycarnet estate. In both its title and various elements, the board references the television show Shameless, which was set on a Manchester housing estate and ended on May 28, 2013, after eleven seasons (WP). Black-and-white images from the estate, and other Belfast landmarks, are featured at the top.
The plaque below reads: “Shameful mural. This mural was officially unveiled on 15th June 2009 by First Minister Peter Robinson. This mural was created by young people from Tullycarnet to highlight that drug and alcohol use should not be normalized by communities.”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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A three-piece stone in the same Tullycarnet garden as the war memorial and peace mural. “Orange and green it doesn’t matter, United now, Don’t shatter our dream, Scatter the seeds of peace over our land, So we can travel, Hand in hand across the bridge of hope.” by Sean McLaughlin, a twelve-year-old who was killed in the Omagh bombing of 1998 (WP). The garden was unveiled June 2010 (IFI).
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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This is a three-stone memorial to army soldiers from both World Wars in Tullycarnet, featuring a line from the gospel of John (“Greater love has no-one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” 15:13) and a song by Randall Wallace for the 2002 movie We Were Soldiers called ‘The Mansions of the Lord’: To fallen soldiers let us sing, where no rockets fly nor bullets wing, our broken brothers let us bring, to the mansions of the Lord. No more weeping, no more fight, no prayers pleading through the night, just divine embrace, eternal light, in the mansions of the Lord. Where no mothers cry and no children weep, we will stand and guard though the angels sleep, Oh through the ages safely keep, the mansions of the Lord.”
By Ross Wilson with support from the International Fund For Ireland (IFI)
Behind the memorial is a mural reading “Time for peace – invest in kids …… not war!”
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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UFF, UDA, and UYM mural in Tullycarnet: Tullycarnet 5th Battalion, East Belfast Brigade. The mural dates back to 2006 at least. Also included (below) is a large Tullycarnet flute band tarp on the railings.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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“Ballybeen remembers Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022” on the back of the “Ballybeen estate” sign at the Davarr Avenue entrance to the estate. Elizabeth died in September 2022, shortly after her platinum/70th jubilee.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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Victoria Cross recipient James Magennis was the only person from Northern Ireland awarded the VC for action during WWII (WP). Although the mural is in loyalist Tullycarnet, Magennis was a Catholic, born in west Belfast, though he later lived in Castlereagh. He was given a reception in 1945 at Belfast city hall.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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The Tullycarnet flute band (Fb) murals on the hill were repainted for Remembrance Sunday in November 2021 but vandalised shortly thereafter (Belfast Live) with graffiti naming an alleged paedophile which was then whited out. One year on and the mural has not been repaired.
(For the previous murals, see Fighting For The Crown and Absent Friends)
Melfort Drive/Lochinver Drive, Dundonald. The tarp is on the main King’s Road.
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Copyright © 2023 Paddy Duffy
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