The East Belfast Historical and Cultural Society wanted to recall the events on the Newtownards Road on the 27/28th June 1970. On that weekend 2 innocent Protestant men were murdered and 28 men, women and children seriously injured by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) who opened fire from St Matthews Chapel and the surrounding area.

When researching the events it soon became clear that the events on the Newtownards Road that weekend could not be treated in isolation. Looking at the “bigger picture” it became clear that in what was clearly a series of pre-mediated attacks on the Protestant community in Belfast a total of 6 men were murdered and many, many others were injured in widespread violence across Belfast, instigated by PIRA. PIRA had decided to flex it’s muscles and demonstrate to their own community that no longer did IRA stand for I Ran Away. In reality what those initials represented was a gang of republicans who were filled with sectarian hatred towards their Protestant neighbours.

The 6 men murdered that day in Belfast were: -

• Tommy Reid – murdered by violent republicans as he watched the annual Whiterock parade
• Billy Kincaid – murdered by PIRA who opened fire indiscriminately on the Woodvale area
• Danny Loughins – murdered by PIRA who attacked the Woodvale area with sustained sniper fire
• Sandy Gould – murdered by PIRA who launched an unprovoked attack on the Protestant Woodvale area. Like Loughins and Kincaid Sandy defended the Woodvale area with bricks and stones, they were no match for well-armed republicans who simply wanted to kill Protestant people.
• Bobby Neill – murdered by a PIRA sniper who opened fire on the local Protestant community from St Matthews’s chapel on the Newtownards Road.
• Jimmy McCurrie – murdered by PIRA gunmen who launched an unprovoked attack on Jimmy and his friends as they returned home from the pub.

The Society produced a book called “Murder in Ballymacarrett – the Untold Story.” This book records the events of that fateful weekend from eye witness accounts, legal documents, newspaper cuttings and most importantly how the families remember how their fathers, brothers, uncles etc were slain by so called Irish Freedom Fighters. This booklet can only be purchased from the Union Jack Shop.

The families of all 6 murdered men co-operated fully with the Society in the production of the booklet and a DVD as well as the building of the memorial garden on the Newtownards Road, which is dedicated to the memory of all 6 men.

The garden was built and paid for by the east Belfast community. The Society asked the local business community and the public in east Belfast to make donations and this they did. As a result the garden was opened on the 28th June 2003 following a memorial parade and opening ceremony attended by thousands of people from across Belfast.

We would like to extend our greatest thanks out to all the families involved of the victims of this fateful weekend and we would like to pass on our deepest sympathies for the pain they have had to suffer due to the oppression of the Republican movement in our country.

Below shows some still photographs of the funerals taking place on the Newtownards Road for Bobby Neill and Jimmy McCurrie.