2009 image of a fading UVF mural in Canmore Street (compare 2005 and 2008). “This mural is a memorial to the volunteers of ‘A’ Coy 1st Batt who served the Shankill community so bravely during the years of conflict. Gone but not forgotten. Here lies a soldier.”
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
M05505
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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“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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“Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.” “To the armies of the British empire who stood here from 1914 to 1918 and to those of the dead who have no grave.” “Pro patria, pro rege.” Almost 55,000 names are inscribed on the memorial.
Aberdeen Street, Belfast
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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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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“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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“Brits out, not sell out. Join RSF [Republican Sınn Féın]” with the remains of “IRA” lettering above.
Fallswater Street, Belfast
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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“Gabh Gaelach” [Go Gaelic]. “Is fearr Gaeılge bhrıste ná Béarla clıste” [Broken Irish is preferable to clever English]. “Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam” [A land without a language is a land without a soul]. “Sí athghabháıl na Gaeilge athghabháıl na hÉıreann” [The repossession of Irish is the repossession of Ireland] – based on a quote by Máırtín Ó Cadhaın. Bunscoıl An tSléıbhe Dhuıbh [Black Mountain Primary School].
The mural on the gable celebrates 125 years of the GAA, particularly local teams Cumman [sic] Spóırt An Phobaıl, Cardinal O’Donnell’s, Gort Na Móna, and Cumann Naomh Eoın.
Video of the Gabh Gaelach murals launch on August 3rd. Funding from the Re-Imaging Communities project with help from USDT and Glór Na Móna. Artists Lucas Quigley (gable), Fra Maher (left), Rıstead Ó Murchú (right).
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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Stories from mythical Ireland including Clann Lır, Oısín & Nıamh, and the Salmon Of Knowledge are depicted in a 2006 mural painted by Mo Chara with the children of the Whiterock Children’s Centre.
Whiterock Road, Belfast
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
M05283
“Ballymurphy Massacre August 1971 – We demand the truth.” 11 Catholic civilians from Ballymurphy were shot and killed by British Army paratroopers on August 9th-11th, during the initial wave of internment. Father Hugh Mullan is shown among the flats waving a baby’s babygro/onesie as he goes to the aid of a wounded man (Bobby Clarke); having turned to go after giving him the last rites, he would be shot be a Paratrooper (depicted in the bottom right corner with distinctive beret).
Fr Hugh Mullan, Paddy McCarthy, Frank Quinn, Joseph Murphy, Noel Philips, John Lavrty, Joan Connolly, Joe Corr, Daniel Teggart, John McKerr, Eddie Doherty
Painted by Rısteard Ó Murchú.
Whiterock Road, Belfast
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Copyright © 2009 Peter Moloney
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