cultural

The Fiftieth Anniversary

Extramural Activity1 Comment

Gertrude Star flute band was formed in 1961 and a new mural has been painted to mark the occasion, with Ulster Banners and Union Flags flanking the UK coat of arms – “Dieu et mon droit”, “Honi soit qui mal y pense”.

The following areas are listed: (left) Gertrude St, Clarawood, Templemore Ave, Woodstrock Road, Albertbridge Rd, south Belfast, Scotland, Antrim, Glengormley, Carrickfergus, Braniel; (right) Dee Street, Newtownards Rd, Cregagh Rd, Castlereagh Rd, Holywood, Ballybeen, Tullycarnet, Shankill Rd, north Down, Bangor.

Martin St, Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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St Malachy’s GAC

Extramural Activity1 Comment

St Malachy’s (tw | Fb) is a junior (i.e. 2nd division/B-tier) GAA club established 1936 in the Markets area of south Belfast and also drawing from Ormeau and Short Strand.

It is not known who the four portraits are of (perhaps Sean Flynn bottom left) or who the four players are. Get in touch if you have any information. 

With support from Lorag (the Shaftesbury recreational and leisure centre) and sponsorship (along the bottom) from Pulse, Belfast City Council, New Belfast Community Arts Initiative, the Housing Executive, and Brighter Belfast.

Shaftesbury Avenue, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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Fear God, Honour The Queen

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This is the arch in My Lady’s Road, with Orange Order symbols (crown, ladder, star) surrounding a painting of King Billy and two small banners of Queen Elizabeth and the 36th Division going over the top, from the East Belfast Historical And Cultural Society and the Lagan Village Cultural Society.

Seen previously in 2010.

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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Remember Us

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Lamentations for the “killed, wounded, missing” among “the west Belfast volunteers who formed in this area”, verse 1:16 in English on the right pillar commemorating the 36th (Ulster) Division – “For these things do I weep/My eyes flow with tears” – and in Irish on the damaged left pillar commemorating the 10th & 16th Irish Divisions – “Seo iad cúis mo chaointe/No [Na?] deora le mo shuile” (the 1981 Bíobla Naofa translation is “Sin an fáth a mbím ag caoi/Agus ag sileadh na súl go fuíoch”).

“‘Remember us who gave our silent dreams within the noise of battle’s thunder/Remember us who have our hopes on golden fields once truly filled with wonder/Remember us who near Thiepval Wood because we could gave our lives own future/Remember us who at eternity’s edge are new born this day between thoughts of sacrifice and loss/Remember us, remember us’ – James Logan, Somme, July 1916”

Ballygomartin Drive, Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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The Boy Soldiers

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Here are images from the four panels that comprise the WWI memorial in Mount Vernon, showing men attacking (Thiepval?) wood, the battlefields around Messines, a soldier approaching a church with a spire, and back-to-back memorials to John Condon, the Waterford [city] “boy soldier”, who died aged 14 in a gas attack – “his memory is kept alive as a symbol of the futility of war” – and William McFadzean, who won a VC for throwing himself on a dislodged box of hand grenades.

At this time (2012) the boards on the outside wall had been taken down. They would later be restored – see X06017, which also has the reverse of one the panels.

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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Help For Heroes

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“Remember the fallen, care for the living”. Five boards arranged into a single piece in Ebor Street, south Belfast. The large bottom panel features a silhouette of a (staged) photograph taken in Basra (DailyMail) of a soldier on a stretcher giving the ‘thumbs up’ sign.

Ebor Street, Village, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2012 Peter Moloney
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