Paddy Duffy Collection

The Armoy Armada

2026-01-162026-01-18Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The “Armoy Armada” was (l-r) Joey Dunlop, Frank Kennedy, Jim Dunlop, Mervyn Robinson (AMRRC). The four formed a team of motorcycle racers from 1977 until 1979 when Kennedy was injured in the North West 200. In memory of the quartet, the Armoy Road Races have been held every July since 2009.

This mural was painted by Oliver McParland (web) in 2020 on a gable of a fast-food shop in Armoy. (For the original photograph, see Classic Motorbikes.) The cruder version in the final image, below, is also in Main Street, on the shutters of the Armoy Motorcycle Road Racing club.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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North Belfast Supports The Hunger Strikers

2026-01-152026-02-04Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Many of the Palestine Action hunger strikers have called off their strikes, most recently Heba Muraisi, who resumed eating on the 14th (of January) after 72 days (BBC).

Umer Khalid stopped taking solids on January 9th (Al Jazeera) reduced has now begun refusing water. His life-expectancy is measured in days, if he does not reverse course (Guardian | Amnesty).

This washed-out banner is on the Antrim Road, north Belfast, on the railings of the Waterworks.

Update: Khalid ended his thirst-strike after two days (Al Jazeera).

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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I’ve Been All Around This World

2026-01-112026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The Face was last seen on the Cupar Way war-wall in 2019 (see Please Respect Artwork). It was taken down (for reasons unknown) and put into storage in a works yard off Lanark Way, from where it was stolen it by thieves (perhaps thinking it might be valuable for its metal); it was found abandoned near the Slıabh Dubh car park (Belfast Live).

It has now found a home in a new coffee- and souvenir-shop (called Bean Around The World) that has been punched into the fencing at the top of Cupar Way in the shadow of a business park.

Next to The Face is a map of Ireland and Britain divided into regions, and a montage of black-and-white photographs from the Troubles (at least some of which come from the Belfast Archive Project).

The Face was created by Kevin Killen (web) and “the Students from Impact Training (NI) Ltd, Belfast To celebrate and commemorate the Industrial History and Heritage of Belfast City.”

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Remember Hope

2026-01-102026-02-19Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

Or perhaps two separate injunctions, “remember” and “hope”. This is a new piece of street-art on a wall of the Ballyduff Community Centre (Fb), which is home to the Ballyduff Community Redevelopment Group (Fb).

For the UVF murals to the left, see Ernie Dougan.

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Remembering Is Not So Easy

2026-01-102026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

On the anniversary of David Ervine’s death, January 8th, a new board was launched in his memory, with images of Ervine “yearning for peace” in the cages of Long Kesh, where he met Gusty Spence (the pair can be seen together in the middle of the first column of photographs).

After his release, Ervine turned to politics, running unsuccessfully as a PUP candidate for Pottinger in the Belfast City Council elections of 1985 (WP); he would eventually be successful in 1997. In 1998 he was returned by Belfast East in the Assembly election (ARK). He helped bring about the loyalist ceasefire in 1994 – which was read aloud by Spence (youtube) – and was pro-Agreement in 1998 (DIB | Guardian | Slugger).

The information about the Memory Chair sculpture makes mention of Ervine’s boots but it seems they have not survived the mothballing of the sculpture which was last seen on site – boots included – in 2014.

Montrose Street South, replacing the various pieces seen in late 2024’s Today, Everyday, And Always.

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Battle Of The Somme

2026-01-102026-01-12Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

The badge or insignia of the 36th (Ulster) Division most frequently seen in murals is the one on the left of this board in Ballyduff, combining a red hand on a field of shamrocks with the Union Flag and the harp of the Royal Irish Rifles. The simpler insignia of the 36th Division on the right is being seen more frequently – it features a left-handed red hand, while the other uses a right-handed red hand, as do the flags of Ulster and of Northern Ireland.

Ballyduff Gardens, Newtownabbey, replacing a painted mural seen in It Grows In Fields Where Valour Led.

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Copyright © 2026 Paddy Duffy
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Glen Branagh

2026-01-092026-08-28Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This memorial for Glen “Spacer” Branagh, launched on the twentieth anniversary of his death in 2021, is at the junction of Canning Street and Orchard Street, north Belfast.

For information and the earlier plaque on N Queen St, see Forever Young.

Three Singers

2026-01-092026-01-15Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

This is a piece of Fintan Magee street-art in the centre of Armagh, showing three singers at a 1950’s talent show in the Tontine Rooms (History Armagh). For the source photograph, see Magee’s instagram post. With support from Armagh City, Banbridge, and Craigavon borough council.

McCrum’s Court, Armagh

Armagh For Sam

2026-01-092026-02-26Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

“Ádh mór Ard Mhacha.”

The board below is from Armagh’s successful 2024 campaign in the senior football championship. The painted well-wishes in the image above might come from 2002, which is the year of Armagh’s only other All-Ireland win, but perhaps from one of the years in which Armagh were Ulster champions (2004, 2005, 2006 or 2008), as the earliest recorded image of it is from 2010.

Drumbreda Crescent and Culdee Drive, Armagh

Ulster Volunteers

2026-01-092026-01-16Extramural ActivityLeave a comment

These faded Armagh murals have the titles “UVF Gun-Smuggler 1913” and “Arms Training 1913”.

The gun-smuggling mural features not the 1914 gun-running on Clyde Valley – the ship that brought in the weapons and ammunition into Larne – but a motor-car. There was earlier gun-running or bulk gun-purchasing – 175 rifles were bought from Harrods by the Earl Of Lanesborough and sent to Enniskillen (Balaclava Street) and 500 rifles were brought from Manchester in August 1913 (Irish Bayonets). (See also History Ireland.) These perhaps used automobiles for distribution, and the Larne gun-running is described as the first time that the horseless carriage was used in a military operation – there were about 350 vehicles in the “Motor Car Corps” (Angelsey p. 3).

The location of the car, and of the ‘arms training’ in the second mural, are unknown. Here is a 1914 image (Getty) showing tents and a single machine-gun at Ballywalter. The sources of both paintings are unknown.

The murals date back to at least 2012 (see the Peter Moloney Collection).

Gough Avenue, Barrack Hill, Armagh