| Culzie | Date: Monday, 2012-06-18, 4:56 PM | Message # 1 |
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| Orange Jubilee parade in London
Published on Monday 18 June 2012 09:51
SOME 15,000 members of the Orange Order have paraded through the heart of London to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
The parade, watched by some 10,000 spectators, took place on Saturday, making its way through Piccadilly, Pall Mall, St James’s Place, Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.
“It was a tremendous occasion,” said the Grand Master of the English Orange Order, Ron Bather. “Not only was it a great experience to parade through London, but for so many people, particularly tourists, it would have been their first occasion to witness an Orange parade.
“The parade was absolutely thronged with spectators throughout the five-mile route, which took us from 3pm to 5.20pm to complete. Needless to say the entire event passed off without incident.
“The reason behind the parade was, of course, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Obviously we sent letters to the Queen to congratulate her on reaching her Diamond Jubilee, which were acknowledged.
“We had some 15,000 members of the Order parading from England, Scotland and Wales and there would have been around 10,000 spectators on the pavements.
“We laid wreaths at the Cenotaph and also handed a letter in at Downing Street on behalf of the Grand Masters of Scotland, Ireland and England.”
The Deputy County Grand Master of Co Fermanagh, Stuart Brooker, was one of those who led the Northern Ireland contingent.
“We must have had some 500 to 600 members from Northern Ireland who made the journey,” he said. “With about 200 of them from Fermanagh alone.
“It was a fantastic experience, people just wanted to take the opportunity to take part in an historic event in such a significant place. It was a great day and the weather held out well for us.
“Every County Grand Master got an invitation to take part. The big attraction was obviously the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. There was just a great buzz throughout the city.
“It was my first time to participate in an Orange parade in London and it was an experience I will never forget. There were massive crowds, which included many supporting friends and family from England and Scotland.
“We were very taken with the level of support on the streets, which obviously included Londoners and tourists too. We seemed to attract a lot of attention, with many professional photographers taking pictures.”
Saturday’s parade had a “sizeable” number of people from Northern Ireland, he said.
The parade ended up with a short rally beside the Victoria Embankment, with an address by Mr Bather and a number of resolutions.
Mr Bather said the letter handed in to 10 Downing Street expressed the Order’s displeasure at discussions about changing the 1702 Act of Settlement.
“We have concerns that there is discussion about the break-up of the union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” Mr Bather said. “We feel we have greatly benefited from the union and that it would be detrimental to all citizens to move away from it.”
The Order’s concerns on the matter relate in particular to discussions about Scottish independence, he said.
Mr Bather said the letter also outlined concerns about possible changes to the Marriage Act, which has required the Royal Family to marry only Protestants for over 300 years, he said.
“The Monarchy has stabilised the country and been a great success for it,” he said. “To change it now could mean that a future Roman Catholic monarch could be subject to a foreign power, the leader of the Roman Catholic church.”
The Government has expressed a view that it would like to change the legislation on this, as expressed last year by the Prime Minister, he said.
Representatives of the Order had met the minister for constitutional affairs on the matters in 2007 under the Labour Government, he added.
“We were able to outline a lot of problems that could impact on the country if changes to the legislation are made,” said Mr Bather.
The Orange Order has had some other major parades in London in recent years. In 2007 it had a special parade in London to mark the 200th anniversary of the formation of the Orange Order and 10 years ago it paraded to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.
Mr Bather said that an Orange Association first sprang up in England in 1688 when William of Orange, later William III of England, arrived in England.
Ulster Protestants consider themselves to be a separate nation. This nation they call Ulster
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