Colonel Blair ‘Paddy’ Mayne

A return visit today to Conway Square.  I took less than a dozen images but I like this one, all the elements came together.  This cafe named after Blair Mayne is just on the corner of Conway Square, I noticed the old man enjoying a cooked breakfast, but in the distance is a statue of Blair Mayne and the Union Flag - all elements coming together.

In the recent BBC drama Blair Mayne was characterised as a drunken thug, but he was anything but.  He did enjoy a drink, perhaps too much, he was a graduate of Queen’s University Belfast, gaining a LLB degree, played international rugby for Ireland and after the war practiced as a solicitor.  But he is best remembered as one of the founding members of the SAS.  A son of Newtownards.