City Hall To Go Dark To Mark 80th Anniversary Of The Belfast Blitz The City Hall in Belfast will go dark this Thursday evening, 15 April, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Belfast Blitz.
Homes across Belfast will be able to see two searchlights in the night sky, being beamed from the grounds of the City Hall at around 9pm.
Belfast Lord Mayor Alderman Frank McCoubrey said it was appropriate for the city to pause and reflect on what is a significant anniversary. The Belfast Blitz in 1941 was a major event in the city s history. It had a devastating impact, not only in terms of the tragic loss of life, but also leaving thousands of people without a home, said Alderman McCoubrey.
Anne Hailes: How the show went on amid the horror of the Belfast Blitz Belfast city centre after a German bombing raid, the most devastating of which was carried out 80 years ago this week 12 April, 2021 01:00
The late Leo Wilson, from Andersonstown, was in the Ulster Hall for a Céilí Mór featuring Ireland’s Queen of Song Delia Murphy on the night of April 15/16 1941 when Belfast was heavily bombed
THURSDAY of this week might pass over as any other recent Thursday – concern about Covid, worry about finances, missing beloved members of the family who have passed on.
Perhaps there will be some talk of the Belfast Blitz as it’s the 80th anniversary of the night 180 German bombers took off from from northern France and at 10.40pm flew low over Belfast raining down their lethal load of bombs and landmines, ripping it apart, especially the Antrim Road, New Lodge and lower Shankill.
Sam Bargewell’s destroyed Belfast home after the blitz in 1941
In part, this was because the city was thought to be too insignificant and remote from Germany to merit elaborate preparations. Its long immunity from attack encouraged the hope that it might escape altogether and there was a feeling that Hitler might respect Ireland s neutrality and so desist from bombing it.
JC MacDermott (the minister responsible for Blitz preparation from June 1940) himself described Belfast as being less well protected than any major city or port in the United Kingdom .
The blame is often attributed to the incompetence of the Stormont government. But AA guns and searchlights were in short supply throughout the UK, not just in Northern Ireland.
How the Elephants at the Houston Zoo Helped an Austin Author
S. Kirk Walsh used her time with the animals and their caretakers for her new book, ‘The Elephant of Belfast.’
Illustration by Natsumi Chikayasu
In the elephant barn at the Houston Zoo, a flock of swallows stitched the high rafters, while below, several more pecked at puddles of water between the feet of three pachyderms waiting for their morning feeding and bath. The muggy summer air was pungent with the smell of manure and wet hay. Along one wall sat plastic buckets filled with thick chunks of carrots and turnips. In this cavernous space, closed to the public, I focused on a young elephant called Tupelo or “Tupe,” to her handlers. With the help of two zookeepers, I was about to assist with her bath. Using a wooden brush, I carefully drew soapy circles against Tupelo’s sturdy body; the stiff hairs that stippled the ridge of her back felt coarse under my fingertips. As she was hosed off, rivulets of foamy wate
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