printed board/placard

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
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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
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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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Collusion Untried

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This Beechmount Avenue board reproduces five pages from the 2007 O’Loan report detailing the various ways in which the security services colluded with (mostly loyalist) paramilitaries; below the pages are a list of victims’ websites and the titles of two “books of interest”.

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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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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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Oftenest From Their Ashes

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The forty portraits of local volunteers and activists have been moved over from the mural on Ardoyne Avenue after the plaster fell off (see Ardoyne, Bone, Ligoniel). For the (pre-existing) plaque and cross, see 2002 and 2015.

The portraits are of … above: James Saunders, Gerard McDade, David McAuley, James Reid, Joseph McComiskey, Pat McCabe, Sid McKee, John Copeland, Terry Toolan, Stephen Scullion, Terry Clarke, Declan McCluskey, Patrick Markey, Peter Hamilton, Seamus McCusker, Jim Mulvenna, Lawrence Montgomery, Larry Marley, Alan Lundy

below: Paddy McAdorey, Charles McCann, Joseph Campbell, Seamus Cassidy, Bernard Fox, Brian Smith, James McDade, James O’Hanlon, John Mooney, Barney McKenna, Raymond Wilkinson, Mary McGuigan, Martin Meehan, Maggie McClenaghan, Trevor McKibbin, Frankie Donnelly, Billy Carson, Sean Bateson, Thomas Begley

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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One Big Union

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A “historical wall feature” was unveiled in January (BBC) by the Shared History Interpretive Project (SHIP) (web | Fb) on the outside of the Dockers’ Club in Pilot Street in Sailortown. The new piece is a montage of about 60 images of vintage photographs, a census form, and posters of industrial life. In the top-middle there can be seen an image of the board this one replaces, which featured two carters pulling away a heavy load.

Another addition in the work is the inclusion of Billy McMullen (1888-1982) and John Quinn (1876-1935) alongside Winifred Carney (1887-1943), James Connolly (1868-1916), and Jim Larkin (1876-1947). Both McMullen and Quinn are Belfast trades-unionists. Quinn’s headstone in Milltown Cemetery can be seen in Forgotten In Life, Remembered In Death.

Pilot Street, Sailortown, north Belfast

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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Cogús

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“Cogús” (Fb) or “conscience” is the prisoners’ welfare arm of the Republican Network For Unity (RNU).

The RNU web address along the bottom of both pieces no longer appears to function (Wayback); the organisation does have a Facebook page.

Rossville Street, Derry

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Copyright © 2015 Peter Moloney
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