Belfast west

A Company 1st Battalion No 4 Platoon

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“This mural is dedicated to the fallen volunteers of No 4 Pltn A Coy 1st Belfast Battn, Ulster Volunteer Force who dutifully served this community in the years of the conflict. It pays tribute both to those who died on active engagement an to the many who passed peacefully from service having fulfilled their duties. Their names and deeds are eternally venerated by their comrades in arms who humbly serve in their honor. ‘They remained staunch to the end against odds uncounted/And fell with their faces to the foe/Their names liveth for evermore’.”

The plaque reads “In memory of our fallen comrades no. 4 platoon A coy. 1st battalion Belfast. Lest we forget.”

The mural shows a graveyard, the left half depicting the gray headstones of WWI burials – a modern volunteer joining a WWI soldier in mourning – while the right shows contemporary headstones of shiny black marble, over which a modern volunteer stands pointing his rifle. Seen previously in 2005.

Glenwood Street, Belfast

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Sons Of Ulster Flute Band

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The Sons Of Ulster (Fb)/UVF mural in Conway Walk is repainted (compare with 2006). The main wall adds some new names on the far left (Metcalfe and Balmer); the side wall is converted to an image of the 36th (Ulster) Division going over the top.

[UVF 1st (West Belfast) Brigade, A company, Platoon] No 5. Sons of Ulster f[lute] b[and]. Vol Noel Kinner, with Thomas (Tombo) Kinner and a dozen other names. See the 2006 for (limited) information.

“In times of need they Volunteered/Came forth to do the right/They never shirked nor faltered/In their noble, gallant fight.//A gratitude to one and all/To all of Ulster’s best/You will never be forgotten/In our hearts and thoughts you rest.”

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Bayardo

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“At this spot, on 13th August, 1975, five Protestants were killed and up to sixty injured during a Republican bomb and gun attack, led by ex-trainee priest and IRA leader, Brendan ‘Bic’ McFarlane, a close associate of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, achieved, in part, exactly what they set out to do – to murder and maim members of our community in cold blood. … although their mission was completed, their callous agenda failed … the people of West Belfast … emerged stronger and even more resolute, to defeat the pure evil that is Irish Republicanism, once and for all! … the Irish Republican Army … were a homicidal, guerrilla grouping! A criminal organisation devoid of conscience! … a sectarian murder gang. … ” Hugh Alexander Harris, Samuel Gunning, William John Gracey, Joanne McDowell, Linda Boyle. “Erected by the Bayardo Somme Association “A forgotten atrocity”” The attack was in retaliation for the Miami Showband killings and the bar was chosen because it was used by the UVF. Harris was in the UVF and Brigade Staff had been at a meeting in the bar but it had already broken up (WP).

Aberdeen Street, Belfast, on the former site of the Bayardo Bar.

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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On The Shankill

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This sequence of ‘Shankill life’ murals is led off by Baroness May Blood, a Labour peer and MBE for her work with the TGWU and integrated education. The other panels show children’s art and celebrate the sense of community, those who served and died in WWI, 11th night, the Orange Order, and the women’s group.

Cupar Way, Belfast

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Murdered By British Forces

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“This plaque is dedicated to the memory of Ned Trodden, Sean Gaynor and John McFadden murdered by British Forces 26th September 1920. Also to the people of this area who suffered at the hands of the RIC who operated out of this commendeered [sic] building [i.e. the Beehive Bar] from 1920-1922.” For more on the trio’s deaths, see The RIC Murder Gang (here called “British Forces”).

Falls Road, Belfast, above the door of the Beehive

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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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