Pride Of Whitehill

Here is a gallery of the smaller boards in the Whitehill area of Bangor – other specific pieces can be found in The Elite and Long To Reign Over Us.

The area is a UVF stronghold but split between the North Down and East Belfast battalions – see Welcome To Bowtown and North Down UVF. The very bottom of the estate is UDA – “RUFF touts” is on the border-line, Skipperstone Road.

Two flute bands are mentioned: Pride Of Whitehill (Fb) and Bangor Protestant Boys (Fb).

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The Elite

“Armed and ready – Protestant Action Force [PAF] – ‘The Elite'”. The PAF name was used to cover semi-independent sub-groups of the UVF, active in the 1970s and 1980s in mid-Ulster and Newtownabbey (WP). The name was given in connection with rioting in Newtownards in late 2021 (BelTel).

These new boards claiming that the PAF was an “elite” are in in the Whitehill area of Bangor. The second such board, shown below, is covering up a memorial to David Gordon Dalzell (for background see Pride Of Whitehill).

The Red Hand Commando – another UVF sub-group/cover-name – also claim to be “the elite”; see e.g. 99.9% Need Not Apply.

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Woodstock Wader

The grey heron is common throughout Ireland (Ulster Wildlife) including the walls of the Cregagh Road (the side of Haus Of Hair, site of Glen Molloy’s tribute to Carrie Fisher).

The work is by Sheffield artist Peachzz (ig), organised by Cregagh-Woodstock Traders (Fb) with support from Belfast City Council (web).

Also in the Woodstock-Cregagh project: Down The Woodstock | Up The Cregagh | Back On The Streets

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How About This For Art?

Here is a gallery of three waves of painting (24 pieces) from the Project 24 space (Spectator) on Queen’s Parade, Bangor. From top to bottom, the images are from late March, the bank holiday at the start of April, and mid April. (The wall was also painted in January – see Stop Ruining Art.)

Above is a self-portrait by artist Jossie Pops (Johnny Hamilton) (ig) who also painted the portrait of actor Gerard Butler immediately below. Shortly, after, RickyDrewAPiccy added a piece between these two – a robot with the words “Don’t drink flat whites. Don’t wear massive coats. Don’t be a robot.” (Fb) – but it was quickly replaced by the Codo heads (under ‘April 7th’, below).

Good Boys by Ana Fish (ig)

Seahorse by ?

Quest Love by Chop Suey (ig)

Utility box painted by Codo (ig)


April 7th

Bananas 4 You and How About This For Art by ?

Fish by HMConstance (ig)

Octopus by Cha Cha/Carla Hodgson (ig) (see previously her 2021 octopus in This Is Not The Same As Other Days)

Witch by Ana Fish (ig), replacing Jossie Pops’s self-portrait

Heads by Codo (ig)

[Gerard Butler remains untouched]

Sleeping Dog by Jo Pearson (ig) replaces Ana Fish’s Good Boys.

Groundskeeper Willie (from The Simpsons) by ?

Dandelions by Imogen Donegan (ig)

Surfer by Soaring Tides (ig)

“Love” by Benjomac (ig)

All-Seeing Eye by Dara Condon (ig)

The Caterpillar by ?

A utility box painted by Codo (ig)


April 21st

Orangutan by ?

Writing by ? replaces Dandelions

Captain Pikachu by ? replaces Surfer

Wide shot. The gable on the left is Ward Park 3 by Friz.

“Keyto 2024” Penguin and Luxo Jr by Keyto (ig).

Which Keyto then replaced with this piece:

Dory by Keyto

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Queen Of Angels

Queen Elizabeth II died, aged 96, on September 8th, 2022, and is now (according to this board) queen of the angels in heaven (Matthew 28:2), which perhaps allows her to send other angels to Earth (Matthew 24:31) to deliver messages to chosen people.

Also included (below) from the same street is a memorial tarp to British soldiers in the Great War and WWII, including Vickers machine guns, Spitfire aeroplanes, and a WWI tank (perhaps a Mark V (Tank Museum)).

Ballyree Drive in Bloomfield, Bangor.

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Gáıre Ár bPáıstí

Here are three pieces from the Drumcor Hill area of Enniskillen.

Above, “Enniskillen remembers the hunger strikers” – for the fortieth anniversary of the 1981 strike, against a background of sunburst and starry plough, in Loughview Drive.

Below, the emblem of Gaeıl Inıs Ceıthleann/Enniskillen Gaels (web) on the wall outside their home field of Brewster Park.

Finally, a memorial stone to Bobby Sands in Erne Drive. The inscription on the stone reads, “‘Is naofa ıad sıud sa fhulaıngíonn ocras ar son na córa.’ [= Holy are those who suffer hunger for the sake of justice/”Blessed are those who hunger for justice”] I ndíl [ndıl] chuımnhe ar Óglach Bobby Sands, feısıre [= M.P.] Fhearmanach-Thír Eoghaın Theas, a d’éag 5 Bealtaıne 1981 ın aoıs 27 ı ndıaıdh 66 lá ar staıle [staılc] ocraıs ar son stádas polaıtıúıl a chomhchımí agus saoırse na hÉıreann. I measc laochra na nGael go raıbh a anam uasal. ‘Is í gáıre ár bpáıstí an díoltas a bheas agaınn'”

For an alternative translation of Sands’s quote “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children”, see The Spirit Of Freedom in the Peter Moloney collection.

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Between The Bridges

Landmarks of Enniskillen and Lough Erne are depicted in this “Enniskillen” mural by Danni Simpson (ig) and Karl Fenz (ig) for Experience Enniskillen (web).

Clockwise from the peaked roofs in the bottom left: Lough Erne resort, Enniskillen courthouse, Cole’s Monument, the Cuilcagh Boardwalk (which is featured in Stairway To Heaven), Enniskillen town hall, the bandstand at Cole’s Monument, the Butter Market, Enniskillen Castle, the red heart “selfie frame” in the Broadmeadow (Impartial Reporter), with Marble Arch Caves and fishing on Lough Erne (see also Pike Fishing In Enniskillen) at the bottom.

The piece is in East Street Bridge, on the side wall of Fermanagh Cottage Industries in front of the Presbyterian Church.

Also by the same pair in Cavehill, Belfast: Fowl Play (Swan) | Outfoxed | Squirrelled Away.

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Brigadier Billy Wright

“Greater love hath no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends – John Ch. 15 v13”

This memorial plaque is “in memory of [LVF] Brigadier Billy Wright (King Rat)”. Wright was killed in the Maze in December 1987 by members of the INLA (neither the INLA or LVF were on ceasefire).

Kilcoole Drive, Dungannon.

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Róısín Dubh

“A Róısín, ná bíodh brón ort fé’r éırigh dhuıt”/Róısín, be not sad about what has happened to you”. The song ‘Róısín Dubh’ [usually translated as ‘Dark Rosaleen’] is a love song to Ireland, in which the infatuated singer recounts the lengths he would go to on her behalf (song (youtube): Muıreann Nıc Amhlaoıbh | Caıtlín Maude | poem/lyrics in English: Mangan | Kinsella at WP).

This new piece in the New Lodge, north Belfast, was painted (presumably) by emic (ig), (presumably) under the same auspices as, and as a thematic complement to, the project we reported on in Communities In Transition. The lack of explicitly nationalist or republican signifiers is perhaps necessary if the piece is to be funded by Communities In Transition, while the cultural reference is perhaps necessary if the art is to survive on what has for the past dozen years been an anti-Agreement wall – see Damn Your Concessions, England and Unbowed, Unbroken. Another emic piece, in Creggan, Derry, has been marked with republican graffiti – see Stand Up And Speak Out. This very skilful piece walks a very fine line very precisely.

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