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Displaying items by tag: Connswater

#Belfast - Fans of the recently knighted Sir Van Morrison are mounting a campaign to have a new river bridge in East Belfast named in his honour, as the Belfast Telegraph reports.

The musician grew up close to where a series of new bridge crossings are planned as part of a greenway development in Orangefield along the Connswater, Knock and Loop waterways.

And the first of these, a bridge between Victoria Park and the adjacent Harbour Estate, was already named by popular vote as the Sam Thompson Bridge after the late playwright.

That's prompted fans of 'Van the Man' to call on officials behind the Connswater Greenway scheme to honour the Belfast legend's contributions to music the world over with a bridge in his name, or named after one of his famous songs such as 'Astral Weeks' and 'Moondance'.

The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.

Published in Belfast Lough

About the Endurance II Replica Project

An Irish project has been launched on the 150th anniversary of explorer Ernest Shackleton's birth, to build a replica of his ship, Endurance II, in County Kildare.

The project has high-profile patrons such as the Prince Albert II of Monaco, Alexandra Shackleton (Shackleton's granddaughter), and Richard Garriott, the President of the Explorer's Club.

The project is still at the concept stage, so the estimated cost of construction, which is expected to be around €14m, and the annual operational budget of €1.5m are not yet confirmed.

The project organisers are seeking $600,000 (€556,350) from 12 "founders," who will each contribute $50,000. The chairman of private investment firm Kilcullen Kapital Partners, Galway-born O’Coineen, bought the Business Post newspaper in 2018.