printed board/placard

Shankill Protestant Boys

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The main part of this installation is a large painted carving of lions rampant on either side of the emblem of the Shankill Protestant Boys flute band (Fb), named for the Shankill Boys of the original Ulster Volunteers and the Ulster Special Service Force unit within it which was designed to be a unit of “first responders”, ready to react at short notice to action by republicans or British forces anywhere in northern Ireland (historyireland).

With the outbreak of World War I, the Ulster Volunteers joined the RIR and the 36th (Ulster) Division and fought at the Battle Of The Somme in 1916: “’The Ulster Division has lost more than half the men who attacked and in doing so has sacrificed it for the Empire which has treated them none too well. The much derided Ulster Volunteer Force has won a name which equals any in history. Their devotion, which no doubt has helped the advance elsewhere, deserved the gratitude of the British Empire. It is due to the memory of these brave fellows that their beloved Province shall be fairly treated.’ Captain Wilfred [sic] Spender HQ staff 2nd July 1916″

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11941 [M11942] M11943 M11944 M11945 [M12209]

McCurrie And Neill

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“Jimmy McCurrie & Bobby Neill, murdered 27/28th June 1970. Still no truth – still no justice.”

The two civilians died in the course of rioting and a gun battle around St. Matthew’s that was “the first major confrontation to occur in east Belfast during the troubles” (McKittrick et al., Lost Lives, p. 50). It is not clear at what time each died. McKittrick gives the death of both as the 27th, but puts Neill’s death at 2 a.m. (and so strictly speaking on the 28th?).

Newtownards Road, east Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11921

Remembering The Hunger Strikers

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This is the fourth iteration of the hunger-strikers board in Rockmore Road, which goes back (at least) to 1995. For two earlier versions, see third | first.

Michael Gaughan and Frank Stagg are included alongside the ten deceased men from the 1981 strike.

Rockmore Road, west Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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bobby sands mp 5th may francis hughes 12th may raymond mccreesh 21st may patsy o’hara 21st may joe mcdonnell 8th july michael gaughan 3rd june 1974 frank stagg 12th february 1976 martin hurson 13th july kevin lynch 1st august kieran doherty 2nd august thomas mcelwee 8th august michael devine 20th august st james’s commemoration committee sınn féın

Sunnylands RHC

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This is a vintage cut-out in the Sunnylands estate (visible in 2008 Google Street View). The central board – a RHC emblem – had a plastic or paper layer between the star/wings and the circular back-board with red-white-and-blue colours and the words “Red Hand Commando” in a circle. The hooded gunmen on either side each appear to be a single, painted, carving.

Salia Avenue, Sunnylands, Carrickfergus

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11825 [M11826] [M11827]

Antiville UDA

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This is a very aggressive set of boards, in Hampton Crescent behind the Antiville (Larne) community centre: two of them show silhouetted UDA (3rd battalion, D company) gunmen in active poses, and another deploys the fearsome figure of Eddie The Head. Rather than the Union flag that he carries in other murals and on the original Iron Maiden album cover (see Eddie’s Visual History page), in this version “The Trooper” carries a UDA flag (with the UFF symbol also shown). “AYM” is presumably “Antiville Young Militants”. 

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Kenneth Nicholl

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“Remember those not here today, And those unwell or far away, And those who never lived to see the end of the War & Victory, And every friend who’ve lost [or: passed] our way, Remember as of yesterday, It’s absent friends we miss the most, To ALL, Let’s drink a loving toast.”

William Walker’s poem Absent Friends is used as a part of UDA/UFF commemoration of various Larne men: “Ewan ‘Shug’ McPherson, Raymond ‘Toby’ Sloan, Kenneth ‘Kenny’ Nicholl (who is featured in a separate board; BBC-NI report of his killing), Ian ‘Big Ian’ Hamilton. Walker was a pilot during WWII who wrote poetry and returned to the brewing trade after the war; he died at age 99 in 2012 (Guardian).

Linn Road, Antiville, Larne

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11820 [M11821] [M11822] [M11823] M11824

No Maze Shrine

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A plan for a “peace and conflict resolution” centre at HMP Maze was approved in April 2013 (Guardian) but the plans were scuppered before the end of the year (BBC) thanks in part to unionist objections that it would focus on prisoners rather than victims (BBC).

The other placard also refers to another controversy from 2013, the flying of the Union Flag at Belfast City Hall, which began with the December 2012 decision to fly the flag on 18 days a year, but which petered out the following spring.

Steeple Road, Antrim

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
M11798 M11799

David Ervine

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“He had the courage to climb out of the traditional trenches, meet the enemy in no man’s land and play ball with him.” David Ervine was a UVF member, arrested in 1974 and served six years in the Maze before turning to politics: he first ran for office in 1985 and represented East Belfast in the NI Assembly from 1998 until his death in 2007. The board shows Ervine’s silhouette in a wreath of poppies along with pictures of and information about his life, including a photograph of Ervine with Gusty Spence, who is shown holding a pipe.

Ervine’s own pipe is included among the items on the “Memory Chair” sculpture by Ross Wilson, along with a ticket for the Titanic and a little (prayer?) book with a poppy on the cover. The prayer book would be for Protestantism, the poppy for loyalism and service in WWI, and the ticket for the shipyard. The boots like the pipe are personal effects of Ervine’s.

“David Ervine 21st July 1953 – 8th January 2007 David Ervine was born in nearby Chamberlain Street, the youngest of five children. A lifelong supporter of Glentoran Football Club he was a true son of East Belfast. David attended Avoniel Primary School and Orangefield Boys High School. Leaving school before his fifteenth birthday he began his working life in an atmosphere of tension and violent confrontation. At nineteen he joined the UF. He was arrested in 1974 and served five years in Long Kesh, a wasteland that he and other prisoners transformed into a place of personal and political growth and development. A founding member of the Progressive Unionist Party and its most articulate spokesperson, he was elected to the Northern Ireland Forum, Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly. David Ervine was a truly inspirational leader. With vision and courage he led his community from violence to peace, winning the respect of friend and foe alike. He gave voice to the common man and woman acting always in the interest of peace and his beloved Ulster.”

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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