Robert Mailer of Glencairn suggested that the suburb name be changed to Coburg, inspired by the impending visit to the colony of the Duke of Edinburgh, who was a member of the royal house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Flanked by his PUP colleagues Jim McDonald and William "Plum" Smith, as well as Ulster Democratic Party members Gary McMichael, John White and Davy Adams, Spence read out the statement from Fernhill a former Cunningham family home on their former Glencairn estate in Belfast's Glencairn area, an important training centre for members of Edward Carson's original Ulster Volunteers.
In 1947 Saroyan's The Beautiful People and O'Neill's SS Glencairn both had their London premières there, as did Genet's The Maids.