These two boards in the West Winds estate, Newtownards, were removed by the NIHE in May (BelTel) but restored in August (News Letter). One (above and immediately below) is from the First Newtownards Somme & Historical Society (old Fb page) and the other from the “East Belfast And North Down Veterans’ Association”, which does not appear to have an on-line presence.
The original NIHE statement cited in the BelTel piece mentions both the removal of paramilitary imagery and boards being placed on NIHE properties without permission. A meeting took place between the NIHE and the Somme Society which secured the return of the pieces (News Letter) and in August they were mounted again.
Blenheim Drive, Newtownards. Also included is the Society’s board on the Dakota Avenue shops.
This image of King Billy crossing the Boyne in 1690 is on the No Surrender lodge (LOL 241) in Donaghadee. King William III’s victory in Ireland is celebrated annually on July 12th, with parades and gatherings of fraternal lodges and flute bands.
William’s victory is joined here by a number of small boards commemorating the 80th anniversary of Victory In Europe, on May 8th, 1945, “remembered with pride” by Orange lodges 241 and 836 (Brother Henry Ferguson Memorial), Royal Black Preceptory 768 (Ulster), and Flutes And Drums Donaghadee (Fb).
Manor Street, Donaghadee, replacing two Platinum Jubilee boards.
Tartan gangs were a short-lived phenomenon in the early 70s, bridging the gap between youthful trouble-making and para-militarism. The gangs as entities distinct from youth wings of paramilitary groups had largely disappeared by the late 70s, and the teens and young adults who were members then are now in their sixties and seventies and some have passed away (“No silence is louder, than the absence of a voice you used to hear every day. Semper recordatus”). This new (July 2025) board commemorates the camaraderie of the Woodstock Tartan in those early days: “We are young, we are one, we are tartan”.
The name “tartan [gang]” comes from the tartan clothing, particularly scarves, worn by the gangs. Gareth Mulvenna (2014 and in History Ireland) reports that the first pattern worn by the Shankill Young Tartans was in fact the Burberry tartan – a box of scarves was stolen during a trip to a Rangers match in Glasgow – but they later adopted the Royal Stewart tartan, which is predominantly red rather than tan. (It was made famous by motor-racer Jackie Stewart, who wore a tartan sticker on his helmet (Henry Ford).) The Woodstock tartan pattern (shown in the new board) is the ‘dress’ (white) variant of the Royal Stewart tartan.
The speakers at the board’s launch (Loyalist East Belfast on youtube) recall the activities (and fashions) of the Woodstock gang in the early 70s – building bonfires, attending matches, holding running battles with other gangs – and only obliquely mention the turn towards sectarian violence, ultimately joining the Red Hand Commando in 1972 in response to IRA attacks such as at the Four Step Inn (Mulvenna). In this 7-minute TV report about the Woodstock Tartans from May 1972 (youtube), an interviewee distinguishes the Tartans in east Belfast from gangs in England as defenders of their area: “when IRA mobs come out [from Short Strand] and attack this Protestant area, we have to beat them back, as the soldier don’t seem able to do this.” (See also this Time interview.)
The number of dead Palestinians in Gaza has now reached 64,000 (WP | Al Jazeera | PBS), famine has been declared by the IPC (Guardian), and Israel is calling up tens of thousands of reservists for a new offensive in the strip (AP).
This new mural by Peaball (web) and GCR [Galliagh Community Response (Fb)] shows a blind-folded child in a war-torn landscape.
The Linsfort Drive (Creggan) memorial garden (see M02663 and M02775) is featured in the centre of this board of IRA volunteers from the 2nd battalion of the Derry Brigade. There are two similarly designed boards to the 1st battalion in Westland Street and in Lecky Road.
The Sergeant Lindsay Mooney Memorial Flute Band was formed in 1973 after the St. Patrick’s day death of Lindsay Mooney, a UDA member killed by the premature explosion of a bomb near Lifford, County Donegal (Sutton). The band was not in operation between 1993 and 2013 (NI World) but re-formed some time around 2021. This new piece replaces the faded board seen in 2023’s In A Foreign Land.
“‘Nothing great and durable can be created without the presence of an elite’ – SLMMFB” with a list of battalions from the Londonderry And North Antrim brigade of the UDA: Londonderry, Coleraine, Ballymoney, Ballymena, Bushmills, and “South Londonderry & East Tyrone”.
The quotation (“Nothing great and durable …”) seems to be a UDA creation; it has been used in other UDA murals in east Belfast (T00245) and Larne (J1611/J2039).
“Jon Clifford’s Tristar FC, Derry, founded 1974”. Jon “Ugg” Clifford died on September 3rd, 2011, while waiting for a lung transplant (BelTel). In 1974 he had founded a youth soccer club – initially for boys – called “Tristrar” (web) in Creggan. The park where they played – Bull Park – was renamed in his honour, a portrait on boards was mounted in 2013 (which has now been replaced by the larger painting shown here), and a memorial championship was begun in 2014 (Derry Daily).
Update: The mural was officially launched on October 9th, 2025 (BBC).
Kneecap member Mo Chara (Lıam Óg Ó hAnnaıdh) appeared in court (in London) on Wednesday on terrorism charges and was bailed for a further month while the judge rules on a technical issue about whether the trial can go forward (BBC). (See previously The Magic Within.)
The art above on a Galliagh (Derry) sub-station reflects Kneecap’s popularity among local youth. The word “Mo Chara” (“my friend”) is painted with a shamrock, an oak leaf (symbol of Derry city), and a Claddagh ring.
Painted by Peaball (web) with young people from On Street (Galliagh Community Centre & Galliagh Youth Club) (Fb).
Bob Vylan (a punk-rap duo) at June’s Glastonbury Festival led the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine” and “Death, death to the IDF” (BBC | Reuters). These have now appeared as stencils, along with Derry oak-leaves from 2024’s Creggan Is my Home, on signal boxes in Central Drive, Creggan, Derry.
Kneecap took the stage immediately after Bob Vylan, and were likewise investigated for their comments supporting Palestinians and criticizing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (Reuters).
Paddy Duffy Collection 