Soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) division in the trenches of WWI prepare to go ‘over the top’. One waits for the precise moment according to his watch, ready to fire a shot, while the other prepares to blow a whistle and launch a flare. “Throughout the long years of struggle, the men of Ulster have proved how nobly they fight and die.” King George V on November 16, 1918. The quote also appears on the Ulster Tower in Clandeboye.
This is a new UDA mural in memory of John Gregg, “The Reaper”, who waged a campaign of terror against Catholics in south-east Antrim and was reputedly associated with British neo-Nazi groups. Gregg was gunned down in 2003, while returning from a Rangers match, as part of the power struggle with Johnny Adair.
Nearby red-white-and-blue poles on Knockenagh Ave, Newtownabbey, are also shown.
This banner just off the Shore Road includes two Palestinian flags and an Irish Tricolour, along with a raised first and the lark of freedom, both in green, black, and red.
This is the freshly-repainted UFF mural in Ballyduff (former version in purple). As the close-up shows, the figures are quite crudely drawn, with strange lips, elongated fingers, and amorphous limbs.
This large electrical sub-station, painted on all four sides, is in Ballyduff, Newtownabbey.
First: David Lee was a founder, in 1985, of Pride Of The Hill Flute Band in Carnmoney/Ballyduff. Kris Muckle – now deceased – was a long-time member. (Fb)
Second: Translations of Psalm 60.4 vary, but it is something like “You (the Lord) have given those who fear you a banner so that they will not flee before your arrows”, which might work quite well alongside a Union jack. But in fact, the lines on the side of the sub-station come do not come from Psalm 60.4; they are rather the first stanza of a 1902 poem (earliest found mention), The UnionJack, by Edward Shirley, in Little Poems For Little People:
‘Tis thy flag and my flag, the best of flags on earth; Oh, cherish it my children, for ’tis yours by right of birth. Your fathers fought, your fathers died, to rear it to the skies; And we like them will never yield, but keep it flying high.
Third and fourth: “They paid the ultimate sacrifice”. WWI soldiers from the 36th (Ulster) Division in relief against an orange sky (perhaps “at the going down of the sun”), picking their way across the battlefields of Flanders. The Ulster Memorial at Thiepval, which commemorates the 5,000 lost lives and more specifically the role of Orange Order members, is shown in the top left corner of the smaller wall. The plaque commemorates members of the modern UVF “1st East Antrim Battalion, Ballyduff & Glengormley”.
This UVF mural shows the flags and insignia of the UVF and YCV (Young Citizen Volunteers), Ballyduff/Glengormley 1st East Antrim Battalion, alongside the flags of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain. The plaque shows only a verse from Binyon’s For The Fallen.
Bonus images of the bonfire and the flags flying around the green.
This is an end-of-life shot of the Ballyduff UDA board on Fairview Road – for the same piece in 2009 see M05010. Together with the recently repainted South East Antrim UFF, it sits prominently on the main road through the estate.
Edward Carson with the emblem of the 36th Division and James Craig with the Ulster Banner. Both were founders of the Ulster Volunteers and leaders of the Ulster Unionist Party.
Canadian physician John McCrae’s poem In Flanders Fields and the triple arches of the Thiepval memorial to the missing are featured in this Monkstown mural. It is McCrae’s poem that is thought to have given rise to the use of the poppy as a symbol of military remembrance (WP). The names of over 72,000 dead are inscribed on the memorial (WP| travelfranceonline).
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow/Between the crosses, row on row/That mark our place; and in the sky/The larks, still bravely singing, fly/Scarce heard amid the guns below.//We are the Dead. Short days ago/We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,/Loved and were loved, and now we lie/In Flanders fields//Take up our quarrel with the foe:/To you from failing hands we throw/The torch; be yours to hold it high./If ye break faith with us who die/We shall not sleep/Though poppies grow/In Flanders fields.”
Peter Moloney Collection 