cultural

The Belfast Blitz

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In the “Belfast Blitz” of April and May 1941, during WWII, 900 people died and half the homes in Belfast were destroyed or damaged (WP). In the apex of this mural, a Nazi bomber sets buildings alight; in the main panel, people, including a milkman, walk among the bombed-out buildings, while others (bottom right) test out a piano that has been moved. 

On the side-wall to the right is a painted frame surrounding a manufactured plaque with the names of locals who died in the blitz.

By JMK (Jonny McKerr – Fb) in Hogarth Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast. Both the lamp-post and the electrical box have been painted into the mural.

McKerr also did a piece in the area of images from WWI – see The Home Front.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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The Home Front

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The central image of soldiers at the battle of the Somme is surrounded by images of various occupations: shipyard workers and miners (perhaps), along with images of women welding, carrying coke, and nursing. It’s not clear what the “fair wartime wage” refers to: there was a general strike at the shipyards in 1919 (The Great Unrest | Workers’ Liberty). 

The nurse is apparently the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia (WP). The image of a person carrying a sack of coke is from the Imperial War Museum’s collection.

The lower wall is intended to be full, but painting has ceased indefinitely.

Artist Jonny McKerr (Fb) also did a similarly-styled piece on The Belfast Blitz.

Edlingham Street, Tiger’s Bay, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Whiterock Flute Band

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This is the post-launch version of the Whiterock flute band’s history wall (as compared to the partially completed wall from last year, before the launch). At the top, we now have a gold disc and orange lily, and, around the doorway on the far right, a list of members, photographs from years gone by, and an account of the launch, which took place on June 14th, 2014.

The final image is from July, by which time “Whiterock F.B.” in bold, white, lettering along the top right had been added.

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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We Shall Not Sleep

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The Somme memorial Garden Of Reflection (between the Shankill graveyard and the Mountainview Tavern) has two new pieces. The first places two headstones (both reading “A soldier of the great war”) in a flower-bed in front of the mural, which shows a soldier, presumably from the Ulster division, on the fields of Flanders: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 1914-2014”

In the second, three wraiths of dead WWI soldiers – one with its head wrapped in a bandage – rise from the grave to issue a final edict: “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.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Let Them Home

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This graffiti on the hoardings around the building-site at the top of Woodvale Road, at the junction with Twaddell Avenue, where each night Orange bands march up to the police line, attempting to march past the Ardoyne shops and finish a parade from the Twelfth (of July) 2013.

A camp was established on the site on Twaddell Avenue with signs using the language of “civil rights” and “equality”: “Established to campaign for Equality. Civil Rights. Welcome to all who support the campaign. The two main objectives are to see the Ligoniel lodges, bands and supporters complete their 12th july parade; to have the current parades commission removed. Please note the camp and the surrounding area is an alcohol free zone. All music must finish by 9 p.m. and the wishes of the local residents fully respected. Thank you for your support. United we stand – divided we fall.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Youth Of North Belfast

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The local New Lodge GAA club Cumman An Phıarsaıgh is named in honour of Patrick Pearse, executed after the 1916 rising. The club’s new mural features footballers contesting a ball and Pearse’s image appears at the centre of a Celtic cross along with part of his 1912 poem Mıse Éıre in the bottom corner (shown in the close-up).

Painted by Lucas Quigley and Michael Doherty. Replaces ‘New Lodge 2000‘.

Mıse Éıre: Sıne mé na an Chaılleach Bhéarra.
Mór mo ghlóır: Mé a rug Cú Chulaınn croga.
Mór mo náır: Mo chlann féın a dhíol a máthaır.
[Mór mo phıan: Bıthnaımhde do mo shíorchıapadh.
Mór mo bhrón: D’éag an dream ınar chuıreas dóchas.]
Mıse Éıre: Uaıgní mé ná an Chaılleach Bhéarra.

I am Ireland: I am older than the old woman of Beare.
Great my glory: I who bore Cuchulainn, the brave.
Great my shame: My own children who sold their mother.
[Great my pain: My irreconcilable enemy who harasses me continually.
Great my sorrow: That crowd, in whom I placed my trust, died.]
I am Ireland: I am lonelier than the old woman of Beare.

New Lodge Road, north Belfast.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Pádraıc Fıacc

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Patrick O’Connor was born on April 15th, 1924, on the lower Falls but after his father emigrated he spent his early years – until age 5 – with his grandparents in East Street in the Markets. It was as a high-schooler in New York that he adopted the name Pádraıc Fıacc (“fıach dubh” is “raven”) and began writing poetry. He settled in Glengormley upon his second and final return; it is not clear that he ever saw East Street lined with British Army soldiers, as shown in the mural above. He wrote of his early life in ‘First Movement’:

Low clouds, yellow in a mist wind
Sift on far-off Ards
Drift hazily …
I was born on such a morning
Smelling of the bone yards
The smoking chimneys over the slate top roofs
The wayward storm birds
And to the east where morning is, the sea
And to the west where evening is, the sea
Threatening with danger
And it would always darken suddenly

Some of Fıacc’s poems are in the TroublesArchive. There are two videos below. The first is an interview with NVTv’s Bernard Conlon; the second is of a reception in Belfast City Hall.

Lower Stanfield Street, Markets, south Belfast

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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2014 Fountain Bonfire

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This is the Relief Of Derry bonfire in the Fountain, Londonderry, with a brash selection of republican paraphernalia, including boards raided from around Free Derry Corner (Resistance Is Not Terrorism), Kells Walk (RNU Supports The POWs), the Brandywell (Reclaim Our Streets | 1 Ireland 1 Vote), and, most audaciously of all, the Kevin Lynch board from Dungiven.

See also: see the map for bonfires from previous years, both Eleventh Night and Relief Of Derry.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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South Belfast Young Conquerors

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There is a new ‘Young Conquerors flute band’ mural in Pine Street, south Belfast, connecting the band to local soldiers who died in WWI. (Previous mural.)

The photograph on the left of the main panel is of the original Donegall Pass Defenders flute band, which lasted a short time in the 1970s before the formation of the Conquerors in 1977 (Fb). On the right is the patch of the band.

The small board reads “DPYM” – perhaps “Donegall Pass Young Militia”

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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Moygashel Neighbourhood Watch

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This is an interesting set of images from Main Road, Moygashel.

The first three employ familiar imagery of the UVF and the 36th Division (the Home-Rule era “Deserted! Well – I Can Stand Alone” is less familiar but goes back to at least 1988; the UVF flag also references the anti-Home Rule movement in the “1912” date of the founding of the Ulster Volunteers).

The stencil (“It is not racist to protect your own community”) and hand-painted board (“Don’t be DUPed”) indicate a recent change in attitudes.

In the May elections for the European Parliament, UKIP received the most votes and the most seats (24), campaigning on an anti-immigrant and Euro-skeptical message; this is its best electoral performance to date (WP). Perhaps in response to UKIP’s increasing popularity, Conservative leader David Cameron last year (2013) promised (gov.uk) a referendum on EU membership, should the Conservatives be elected in next year’s (2015) general election.

The source of dissatisfaction with the DUP is less clear. The party won the largest number of seats in the local elections in May (WP).

These are perhaps the first appearance in the Peter Moloney Collection of both sentiments.

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Copyright © 2014 Peter Moloney
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