'WOII TSM. L.Smith B Battery 1st. Regt Royal Horse Artillery Reception Pte Curley WRAC Sgt. R.D.Holmes "Grand Central Hotel". Royal Avenue. Belfast. NI.', 14 April 1974

Carbon with red crayon by Ralph Lillford, 1974.

As a permanent Army billet, the former luxury hotel, the Grand Central Hotel in Royal Avenue, Belfast, Northern Ireland, provided the best standard of accommodation enjoyed by the troops. Private Curley sits at the hotel reception desk, flanked by two non-commissioned officers of the Royal Horse Artillery, Troop Sergeant-Major Smith and Sergeant Holmes. Ready for duty, she wears a fragmentation vest, or flak jacket, with a protective cover into which she has tucked her anti-riot baton. On the wall behind hang a further three batons, as well as a pistol holster and webbing. The red neck-cloth and peaked cap could indicate that she is a military policewoman. If so, she would have been at least a lance-corporal, the lowest rank in the Corps of Royal Military Police.

Between 1971 and 1976, drawn by an interest in the civil conflict, Ralph Lillford made repeated trips to Northern Ireland to draw what he saw in the streets.