222 Cregagh Road
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The UVF bomb 3 Catholic pubs in 1 day, 2 in Belfast & 1 in Lurgan, 31st May 1973
The UVF go on another sectarian rampage bombing 3 Catholic owned pubs. First attack was a gun & grenade attack in which a English person on holiday was killed at Muldoon's Bar. Second was when a bomb attack on McGlades bar on Donegall Street in which a Catholic civilian was killed. The third attack was on the Four In Hand bar in Lurgan in which the bomb was spotted & most people made it out.
This was a sectarian day of madness in which 2 civilians were killed, one Protestant one Catholic & 50 people injured.
George Best's boyhood home, Cregagh Estate, E.Belfast
I'm down on the Cregagh Estate on Burren Way outside the home of one of football's greatest players ever, George Best. I want to pay tribute to George and offer you a wee look-see and help you appreciate just how ordinary an upbringing the famous footballing legend had.
At the end of the street lies the local playing fields where George honed his skills and where he and his Cregagh PS classmate chums played kickabout. Although he often also played up and down his own street too.
The little house plaque and the gable wall face mural, that is sadly almost hidden away, are the only indicators that I could find here to remember this legend.
Why isn't there a statue and more made of George and the world-wide contribution he made to football? I just can't work it out.
However Connswater Community Greenaway have recently produced an excellent George Best trail, which takes you on a tour of all the places in E Belfast that were special to George. This super Trail is a must for all George Best fans. It can be down loaded from the internet.
Belfast Upper Cregagh Road WW1 & 2 Street Names
I'm studying Google Maps again.
I have discovered that there are quite a number ofstreets/avenues that were named after WW1 Battles/Places eg Somme, Picardy, Thiepval. Two streets were named after the Shorts Sunderland Flying Boat/Bomber and the Stirling Bomber. Both these aircraft were manufactured in Belfast.
Another two roads were named after Field Marshal Mongomery, 17 November 1887 – 24 March 1976), nicknamed Monty and The Spartan General. 'Monty' was a senior British Army officer who fought in both the First World War and the Second World War and was particulary remembered for his North African desert campaign fought against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel ( the Desert Fox. ) Field Marshal Mongomery's family came from Donegal.
The second road is Alanbrooke Road.
Field Marshal Alan Francis Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, KG, GCB, OM, GCVO, DSO & Bar (23 July 1883 – 17 June 1963), was Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS), the professional head of the British Army, during the Second World War, and was promoted to field marshal in 1944.
Like Montgomery, Alanbrooke had a very strong Ulster family connection. He was the seventh and youngest child of Sir Victor Brooke, 3rd Baronet, of Colebrooke Park, Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Ulster, Ireland, and the former Alice Bellingham, second daughter of Sir Alan Bellingham, 3rd Baronet, of Castle Bellingham in County Louth.
Team Talk at the Cregagh Sports Club
A short film depicting the internal struggle between a no-nonsense captain and the happy-go-lucky slackers at a local Belfast Darts club. Demo only which does not have the actual Team Talk as film did not get completed. Unfortunately.
Key To My Heart - George Hutchinson
Key To my heart a love song recorded by George Hutchinson Belfast Singer Song Writer From The Cregagh Estate Belfast .
Minister visits West Belfast
Sinn Fein 6 County Executive Minister for Agriculture & Rural Development Michelle O'Neill MLA visited West Belfast at the invitation of local party representatives. During her visit Minister O'Neill seen and heard from local residents of the destruction to their homes following the recent floods. The Minister also got to visit a number of projects and initiatives that are aimed at enhancing the social development and well-being of the West Belfast Community.
Drive or Cycle? South Belfast
Find out if a commute from south Belfast is faster by bike or by car.
Chobham St. 11th 07 '15
A wee bonfire...
Glenanne families win court victory over PSNI
A Belfast court orders the PSNI to finish an investigation into the murders and activities of the so called 'Glenanne gang' whose members included loyalist paramilitaries, RUC men and members of the British army who were involved in a campaign of terror in counties Armagh and Tyrone in the 1970's.
Finding Belfast
Finding my way around Belfast, Northern Ireland, and discovering the intricacies of life in the North, compassion, and active listening.
I'm finding my way home,
Taylor
Belmont Road Russians
Some Russian immigrants wait for the bus
Belfast Welcome Visitor Centre
I was very impressed by what I saw of the relatively new Belfast Visitor Centre. Belfast City Council are at long last taking the needs of tourists and locals seriously with this state of the art, centrally located building that has been up and running for 3 yeasr now.
Visit Belfast Welcome Centre
Start your journey at the Visit Belfast Welcome Centre. We’re the official one-stop shop for Belfast and Northern Ireland. Whether you’re a tourist or a local we have the information and the tickets to help you explore the city and beyond.
Make the Visit Belfast Welcome Centre your first stop when you arrive in the city or contact us for information in advance of your stay. Located in Donegall Square North (opposite Belfast City Hall) in the city centre, we have information on pretty much everything, whether you need to book accommodation, buy tickets for events or find out about visitor attractions, tours, and transport within Belfast and Northern Ireland, our staff are here to assist you in planning your perfect trip.
Visitors and locals can discover Belfast’s story, brought to life on plasma screens, or read about major attractions on the self-service touch screens.
Services provided
Tourist information and advice
Tickets for tours and events
Accommodation bookings
Gift shop
Free Wi-Fi
Bureau de change
Left luggage
You can also find us at the airports:
Belfast International Airport
Tourist Information Desk
T: +44 (0)28 9448 4677
Open: Mon-Fri 7.30am-7pm, Sat 7.30am-5.30pm, Sun 8am-11am
George Best Belfast City Airport
Tourist Information Desk
T: +44 (0)28 9093 5372/3
Open: Mon-Fri 7.30am-7pm, Sat 7.30am-4.30pm, Sun 11am-6pm
The £1.82 million investment in the new Welcome Centre is part of
Belfast City Council's Investment Programme 2012-2015. This project has
been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the
European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for the Northern Ireland,
and administered by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
'Take a Second Look', by Belfast Poet Stephen Knox
This is my Belfast friend Stephen Knox, reading one of his recently penned poems. This one is called, 'Take a Second Look,or a 'Samaritan's Prayer'.
Belfast's Old Half Bap District, A Hidden History
Many of our older residents of inner Belfast do not know the new Belfast Cathedral Quarter area by any other name but the 'Half Bap'.
The Half Bap was generally the area that lay behind St Anne’s Cathedral. It had been nicknamed and known as the Half Bap for well over 100 years. Few people know how the name came about. Here is one possible explanation. Bad planning by the City Fathers back in the 1890’s when the area was being re-developed led to streets being demolished/built with little thought of how they might emerge to meet other streets. In the chaos of demolition and rebuilding many streets came to an abrupt end, leaving a large piece of waste ground at the end of three or four of the streets. By accident or design a mound of earth was allowed to take shape on this vacant ground. This fascilitated city traffic that quickly adapted and used it like an early roundabout.
It just so happened that the famous baker Barney Hughes, had just invented his famous bread “bap” at his nearby Donegall Street bakery. Quick witted locals immediately recognised the shape of the new roundabout looked like the top half of a “Barney’s Bap”(dome shaped) and so the roundabout and the district became known as “The Half Bap”. Over time the old mound shaped 'roundabout' was replaced with a rather flat and paved replacement but the name 'Half Bap' name stuck and remained a place name in local people's minds for generations to come.
Little Italy- In the 1880s due to rapid industrial growth many people from all over the world were drawn into Belfast. Many Italians settled in the cheap run down area of Little Patrick Street and the surrounding streets between the two ornate Catholic Churches, St Joseph’s and St, Patrick’s. This area was close to the Belfast docks which was the immigrants’ port of entry into Belfast. This area became known as 'Little Italy'. Italian family names like Scappaticci, Notarantonio , Morelli, Fusco, Forte, would eventually become well known right across Northern Ireland.
American WW2 Military Cemetery Lisnabreeny Belfast
16th July 2014 finds me up at the WW2 American Military Cemetery Lisnabreeny Road, in the Castlereagh Hills, just along from Lagan Integrated College.
This area and the surrounding fields acted as a base for American and British troops. There was a British Anti Aircraft Battery located near by, across a field and several Nissan huts to accommodate those manning it.
This particular cemetery was used to bury American soldiers killed or who died during their time in N Ireland. When an American soldier died anywhere throughout N. Ireland they were brought here. Many of the soldiers died of natural causes, others died in road traffic accidents more died in aircraft training flights throughout N Ireland. Probably at the wars end their bodies were removed to be buried once again in their home States and cities in America.
American forces in Northern Ireland numbered 120,000 at their height. N Ireland was used as a training and jumping off point into mainland Europe. Altogether 300,000 Americans passed through. to the war.
This memorial acts as a reminder of a time when Europe was at war and of all the American lives from so far away, lost in that terrible conflict. Many of the soldiers died of natural causes others died in road traffic accidents more died in aircraft training flights throughout N Ireland.
Falls Road(?) 1970
Another short bit of footage found in the Teod Richter archive. The film is labelled rioting on the Falls Rd. It would have been shot mid 1970 during the first period he was is Northern Ireland as no footage has been found from his return and subsequent disappearance in 1986.
Super8 film transferred to VHS in the early 90s, transferred from VHS to AVI 2009.
TV Fame filming Victor the Skateboarding Belfast Bulldog
This is yet another reason to get down to C S Lewis Square off Belfast's Newtownards road at Connswater. You will hopefully see and smile at the laid back skateboarding antics of cool Victor the skateboarding Bulldog from East Belfast. Here I am being interviewed for a few seconds and joining in the fun watching and filming Victor.
I videoed this off BBC Newsline tonight.
Well done Victor!
ps I will obviously be putting up my own footage on Youtube when I manage to cope with all the phone calls and e mails. lol
Belfast Historical Footage with Timecode