DeLorean Historical Artifact

[arranj]

Email received today:

i have a piece of very rare De Lorean memorabilia...dates back to 1981....it is connected to some of the De Lorean nationalist workforce and is part of the political unrest in Belfast at that time....It is a piece of De Lorean history ...im an ex employee from the Belfast site and if you like il tell you the story and post you a couple of photo's of the item...

maybe only 1 or 2 in existence now.....its dated from 1981 and i believe only 50 or 100 were ever made and probably only 2/3 still in existence

im not sure what i want to do with it ive had it a long time 34yrs to be precise i have no idea what it's worth....
maybe you could get back to me when you see the photo's.

you could post the pictures of it up on your forum for people to see..
and if anyone wants to know the story il tell them..

badge.jpg (2.08 MiB) Viewed 3315 times

badgeback.jpg (2.27 MiB) Viewed 3315 times

[bandit]

Interesting item, never seen one, obviously ref to the Maze Prison, during the troubles & hunger strikes. I'd like to know more

[Dangermouse]

Bloody Irish - printed the badge upside down !!!

:p

Yes, interesting piece. The historians/media make a big thing about the integration of workers from both sides, but clearly there were still divisions. I wonder if the badges were worn inside the factory? I thought I read somewhere of a total ban of anything with a sectarian message on-site.

+1 for knowing more

[arranj]

I'm only guessing here, but wasn't this something to do with Bobby Sands' funeral? I think there were a group of DeLorean (nationalist) workers waving banners etc. It's mentioned in this article: http://www.esquire.co.uk/gear/cars/7159 ... he-future/

[bandit]

Yeh, it will definitely be something along those lines. I've read a fair bit on the subject. The IRA were on hunger strike, because Thatcher had removed their privilege to wear their own clothes etc. They had previously been categorised as 'prisoners of war' & as such enjoyed those benefits.
The Government removed that status, so the hunger strikes began. The IRA, then thought, if we get one of the prisoners to run for Parliament, the Government would not dare let them die in a hunger strike.
Bobby Sands was elected as MP for West Belfast & then of course, went on hunger strike, but Maggie was having none of it & he & nine others died.

[Dangermouse]

And I got to travel across the city to school every day wearing a colourful school uniform that informed everyone of my religious leanings.

If a prisoner had died during the night, school was cancelled (for me anyway) as public transport shut down, but when a couple died during the day when I was at school, it was a bit problematic getting home

fyi - The prison was <10 miles from the factory on the other side of Lisburn and was a collection of 8 or so blocks each built in a 'H' shape - hence the name. (Technically, I suppose, it should have read "Smash H Blocks")

Fun time, fun times

[tbrm]

Fascinated to learn of your experience of being at school during that time Dermot. I was at primary school in Bangor, County Down during that time and maybe because I was very very young (five years old when Bobby Sands died) I don't remember any difficulties but I guess it must have been very different depending on where your school was.

I'm about to go back to Northern Ireland for only the second time since we moved to England in 1984 and can't wait to go and see where I used to live.