Monthly Archives: May 2016

Somme – death of a great great uncle

Posted on 09/05/2016 by Compound| Comments Off on Somme – death of a great great uncle

Somme: May Trench Raid – death of a great great uncle

 

on 7 May 2016 , 12:51 pm 11 Comments | 297 views

Tonight is the one hundreth anniversary of the death of my great great uncle during a German bombardment of the trenches after a succesful trench raid by the Ulstermen – a talk was recently held in the Masonic Hall (the old Tamlaght  / St Lukes Church of Ireland Church Hall), Coagh on Private Robert Sands and other men from Coagh who died in the Great War.

In this centenary year of the Battle of the Somme the tragic and brutal slaughter of the Great War`s must never be forgotten. The freedom`s and civil & religious liberties we cherish should never be taken for granted.  100 years ago one of my forebears, Robert Sands, made the ultimate sacrifice as part of the 36th Ulster Division. Our family cherishes the memorabilia we have including a portrait, a hand made stick carved by Robert Sands, his medals, his will and enlistment certificates for both Robert & his brother David Sands issued by the authorities in Ireland from Dublin Castle.

The Sands family & myself (my mother is Sands) still live in the same townland of Urbal 100 years later – the same house in fact.

The Inniskillingers, Foot and Dragoons can be traced back to 1688 and the Battle of the Boyne.

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The Times They Are a-Changing

Posted on 09/05/2016 by Compound| Comments Off on The Times They Are a-Changing

Sinn Fein: The Times They Are A-Changing

Two pictures tell the tale. The first was taken in 1983 in the aftermath of that year’s British general election, the second on Friday in the wake of the Assembly election count in West Belfast.

Gerry Adams is carried shoulder high by jubilant supporters after the Sinn Fein leader won the West Belfast seat in the June 1983 Westminster general election.

Gerry Adams is carried shoulder high by jubilant supporters after the Sinn Fein leader won the West Belfast seat in the June 1983 Westminster general election.

Gerry Carroll is carried shoulder high by jubilant supporters after the People Before Profit candidate topped the poll in the NI Assembly election in West Belfast

Gerry Carroll is carried shoulder high by jubilant supporters after the People Before Profit (PBP) candidate topped the poll in Friday’s NI Assembly election count in West Belfast

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Belfast is not Bethlehem with rain

Posted on 09/05/2016 by Compound| Comments Off on Belfast is not Bethlehem with rain

 

 

 

 

 

The Short Strand housing estate is a fiercely republican enclave in predominantly loyalist east Belfast. In these tightly packed streets, several thousand Catholics hunker down in an area of tens of thousands of Protestants. Close by one of the major routes of Orange Order marches, the Short Strand has long been a flashpoint. It was here that the IRA fought one of the first battles of the Troubles, resulting in three dead and 26 wounded. And there are still problems, with what some rather stupidly call “recreational rioting”. Stones and worse are regularly thrown over the peace wall separating the communities.

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Saturday 7th April 1973

Posted on 03/05/2016 by Compound| Comments Off on Saturday 7th April 1973
Saturday 7th April 1973.
Compound 13 Long Kesh
There was a fight in the hut last night.  The screws had to open the doors after twelve to bring the fella out who got bate up.  He got twelve stitches in his head.  It started over the card school.  There were four of them left in.  There was about seven or eight of us watching it.  There’s no money involved-they play for snout-tobacco.   A pinch of snout equals a stake but as the night goes on the pinches get smaller and smaller.  That’s what started the row.  Monty-ABH on a peeler- was there-he always plays.  There was a new fella-Kevin -breaking and entering-  from the country- –Maghera or somewhere.  In the last hand he seen Monty’s two pair-Aces and Fives-with a prial of ducks.  Monty tipped the table up and your man Kevin gubbed him.  Monty got lashed into him and banged his head of the ground a couple of times.  When the screws was taking Kevin out the door to the MO’s we heard him saying that he fell off the top bunk.  Fair play to him- for a fenian like. Read more »
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