Posters From The Northern Ireland "Troubles" of the 1970's

[leigh kitchen]

A striking poster, as are many of the others, but of a particular significance to me as I picked it up (well, peeled it off a wall) at Kidbrooke, south east London, where I lived & was spending a few days leave at the time :

[Bear]

Hello Leigh,

Interesting Posters! Could you post some pictures of the text on the poster in post 14. Also was it illegal to hang up the anti British posters.

thanks,

barry

[Alex K]

Leigh, Fantastic set of posters and a reminder of much troubled times, which I remember clearly on daily BBC news. Should be carefully preserved, as they will I'm sure become as valuable as other posters from years gone by. Very interesting in seeing them.

regards

[Ulsterman]

Whoa!! The Belfast brigade poster is a keeper! That is worth some REAL serious cash these days. The victory 74 poster is quite a rare one too.

Did you ever obtain any badges?

The Troops out Now poster was cranked out well into the early 1990s. I remember seeing it on the walls of the "troops Out" seminar (Billy Bragg played a few songs) at the Labour Party conference in 1988!

here's one you cant' move from 1987 or so (can it be 21 years?)!

Edited October 8, 2008 by Ulsterman

[leigh kitchen]

I have a chromed UVF badge somewhere, some paper lily lapel badges that were crumpled up & stashed in a Republican club building in West Belfast in the early 1970's, presumably after a parade. I can't remember if they were "stickies" or "pinnies" (the original nickname for the Provisional IRA was "PInnies" as they pinned such badges to their lapels, the Official IRA "Stickies" as they used adhesive tape).

Wall art, always impressive, I was particularly struck by the wall art in Bogside, but then many years ago I was particularly struck by half the bricks from the wall. Bogside nowadays shows representations of some iconic photos from the past - eg the kid wearing an old gas mask.

There are plenty of photos of it in printed publications & on the web.

Fancy staring a thread on NI wall art? In some cases it would be possible to show the wall art & the photo it was inspired by.

[leigh kitchen]

Hello Leigh,

Interesting Posters! Could you post some pictures of the text on the poster in post 14. Also was it illegal to hang up the anti British posters.

thanks,

barry

Will do.

Without wishing to start a discussion on the rights or wrongs of any organisations activities -

It was illegal to put up posters supporting proscribed organisations - organisation of, membership of, soliciting funds for, displaying signs, attending their meetings or addresses by members, showing support in public, all fell foul of prevention of terrorism legislation.

The legislation basically allowed the army to "lift" anybody - we have'nt had an interview with this or that member or supporter for a couple of months, it's about time we did, bring him in, let him go a few hours later. You're handing out leaflets, putting up posters, in you come for interview for a few hours, then we let you go. Basically, intelligence gathering.

Poster hanging did'nt necessarily result in arrest eg the poster in post no. 19 was one of a batch of identical posters which were put up in an area of Belfast at the same time, sometimes in "patterns", such as a circle, high on a gable end. How this was achieved became obvious when an army patrol came across a small group of local men standing whistling innocently around a fork lift truck next to a display of the posters.

No action was taken - a Republican area, you expect Republican posters on the walls.

A problem for the military souvenir poster hunter could be that they might be booby-trapped, so those stuck to the walls of a derelict building might be a riskier proposition than those on the walls of an inhabited dwelling.

Also, the positioning of such posters might convey a message to those "in the know" - directions to a "safe house", that sort of thing, so wrath of authorty might be incurred for pulling the things down before this possibilty could be evaluated.

I don't know if anybody enforced the local by-laws re. bill sticking on the Falls Road, but I doubt it.........

[leigh kitchen]

See if these crops of the poster in post no. 14 work out, if not I'll scan better images:

[leigh kitchen]

Not too bad - here's the lower part of the text:

Edited October 8, 2008 by leigh kitchen

[leigh kitchen]

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[leigh kitchen]

Whoa!! The Belfast brigade poster is a keeper! That is worth some REAL serious cash these days. The victory 74 poster is quite a rare one too......

Yes, the Belfast Bigade poster is an attaractive one - take away the AK & replace it with a Lee Enfield & it could be a WWI poster encouraging men to an appointment on the Somme. The Victory 74 is a nice, colourful "warry" one too, but the Belfast Brigade is a classic.

[Ulsterman]

Well, this thread made me go up to the attic and begin rummaging about in boxes i haven't looked inside for 20+ years. I had forgotten i had all this stuff.

The Belfast brigade poster is rare. I saw one similar from the 1980s go oneBay for $350 about a year ago and i suspect that was low.

[Bear]

Thanks Leigh :cheers:

[leigh kitchen]

This poster was used in a double "come on", bait to security forces in January / February 1976. The initial lure was a car hijacked by armed men & left abandoned at an angle in the road a few yards from a building (a derelict, I think).

On the building was a PIRA poster, strategically placed to catch the eye of any squaddie who may wish to pull it down to dispose of or keep as a souvenir.

A squaddie fell for this 2nd come on, & as he was taking it down a detonator behind it was activated, however the 30 lbs of home made explosive behind the wall didn't.

Better be careful crawling around that attic playing with posters Ulsterman.........

[Ulsterman]

I did find a small, dead rat. :Cat-Scratch:

[leigh kitchen]

Another find in my garage today - a Security Forces poster of 1976 - casstte incendiaries were common little devices used to inflct damage to shops etc:

[Mervyn Mitton]

Leigh - thank goodness for your garage - you've been turning-up some good stuff recently. From all of these posters I think that it is the first few which show how terrifying and nerve racking it must have been for the ordinary citizens.

Under our British Police sub-forum there have been some really interesting threads on the political situation in Ireland in the past. I recommend anyone with an interest to read them.

[tynesideirish]

Leigh, What a great thread. Some corkers. Here's a few more:

[tynesideirish]

Here's another:

[tynesideirish]

More:

[tynesideirish]

Last one for now:

[leigh kitchen]

Bold, striking posters - from the late 1980's - 90's?

[coldstream]

Leigh. Post 38 reminds me of the NITAT training down in tin city, always included the booby trapped poster somewhere and someone always seemed to get caught out!

Trying to find a few Sinn Fein posters I brought back but as always there hidden amongst the junk somewhere.

Simon

[Mervyn Mitton]

I hope everyone is aware just how valuable these posters are - and will become even more so in the future. They should be preserved in strong plastic sealed folders of the correct size and with acid free paper in between. You would need to speak to a specialist auction house for prices - but even today I would not be surprised if some of them are not in the high hundreds.

[tynesideirish]

I hope everyone is aware just how valuable these posters are - and will become even more so in the future. They should be preserved in strong plastic sealed folders of the correct size and with acid free paper in between. You would need to speak to a specialist auction house for prices - but even today I would not be surprised if some of them are not in the high hundreds.

Haha, OK, if any speculators out there want to offer me £100 total, post free for my four, I'll let you take them off my hands! :blush:

[leigh kitchen]

Another expedition into the garage produced a few more posters:

Edited January 23, 2010 by leigh kitchen