Andersontown News, 3. August 2004
The wheels on the bus go round and round the sites of our policital history
One of the greatest strengths of the West Belfast and Interface Bus Tours is
that they emphasise to the visitor just how steeped in political history
West Belfast is.
Taking the West Belfast tour on Monday I was reminded how many important
political landmarks are in the local area, and how tours like this are
beneficial to both visitors and natives alike.
The bus tours are being run in conjunction with Coiste’s Political Tours
Project and are sponsored by Citybus.
The political and historical tours, which aim to give participants a better
understanding of Belfast, have become an extremely popular part of Féile an
Phobail.
The West Belfast tour, which includes the Lower Falls, Clonard, Ballymurphy
and Milltown Cemetery, is both informative and enjoyable for those who come
from the area and for those who have travelled from further afield for the
festival.
Visitors from New York, Los Angeles and Derry were amongst those who took
the tour on Monday afternoon, which was led by Clonard man Jim McVeigh, an
ex-prisoner who was on hand to answer any questions that visitors to the
area might have about local landmarks.
“The stories you will hear today are only part of the history,” said Jim at
the outset of the tour.
“The stories I will tell you are republican, but there is also another side
to the history, not least the stories which come from the other side of the
peace wall which is nearby,” he added.
First stop on the tour was the political murals on the wall outside Andrew’s
Mill on the Falls Road. Jim took time to explain each mural and its
political significance.
The local guide explained the history of the murals which include those
depicting the Turkish hunger strikes, Basque struggle for independence and
republican solidarity with the Palestinian people.
Next stop on the tour was the Garden of Remembrance on the Falls Road where
Jim explained about the vast number of local people who have lost their
lives throughout the conflict.
Visitors were also given the chance to view the Bobby Sands mural and to
listen to extracts from his prison diary.
As the bus weaved its way through Clonard participants on the tour were
given a short history of the mills and Clonard Monastery, including an
insight into the role of priests at the Monastery in the peace process.
The tour stopped at Bombay Street, scene of the loyalist pogrom of 1969.
Jim described how houses in the street and nearby streets were razed to the
ground by loyalist mobs.
He also showed the tour the plaque bearing the name of IRA Volunteer Tom
Williams who was reared in Bombay Street by his granny. Participants also
visited the Clonard Martyrs Memorial Garden built to honour the many people
of Clonard who lost their lives in the conflict.
The tour then took in several murals in the Ballymurphy area and Jim
explained the significance of each mural – he went on to explain the role of
women in the republican struggle.
“The people who are rarely talked about are women,” said Jim.
“Thousands of women were the backbone of the struggle and don’t get the
credit they deserve,” he added.
En route to Milltown Cemetery the tour stopped at the house on the Falls
Road where Irish socialist republican James Connolly lived for two years.
The tour finally came to a halt at Milltown Cemetery taking in many aspects
of the graveyard’s fascinating history.
Visitors were told about the soldiers from World War II who are buried at
the cemetery and they were taken around the republican plots in the
graveyard.
Jim Dorrian from New York was one of the visitors on Monday’s tour.
Visiting West Belfast has a very special significance for Jim as his mother
and father were both from the Lower Falls, as is his wife.
Over the past five years he has attended Féile an Phobail four times.
“I am over for a couple of weeks for the festival,” said Jim.
“It is great to be back and although I was born in America, my family did
come back for a year when I was five-years-old and I attended St Mary’s
Primary School on the Falls Road.
“I thought the tour was very interesting and Jim, the guide, was really well
educated,” he added.
The West Belfast and Interface Bus Tours run at Féile an Phobail until
Friday.
Tickets are priced at £5 and are available from Coiste’s office at 10
Beechmount Avenue, telephone 02890 200770.
Booking is essential.
