Category Archives: News and Events
Imperial Grand Lodge Meeting
The officers and members of the Independent Loyal Orange Institution held their annual meeting in the Headquarters Hall Ballymoney on Saturday 9th January 2016 at 2.00pm. The chair was taken by Rt Wor Bro Alan McLean Imperial Grand Master assisted in the Deputy chair by Wor Bro James Anderson . The Lodge was opened, normal business conducted and reports taken.
IGM Wor Bro McLean then thanked the brethren for having him as the IGM for the past five years,something that he enjoyed immensely and intimated that he was not standing for election for a further term. He then Called on Bro Victor McLean PCGM to conduct the election of officers.
The main officers elected being, Imperial Grand Master Rt Wor Bro James Anderson, Deputy Grand Master Wor Bro Mervyn Storey MLA, Chaplain Wor Bro Derek McFarland,Secretary Wor Bro Alexander McFarland and Treasurer Wor Bro Roy Wilson. Following the election Wor Bro Cyril Glass PIGM IGL nstalled the newly elected officers.
Members of McNeillstown ILOL N046 brought fraternal greetings and best wished from the lodge. We would like to pay tribute to the outgoing IGM Alan McClean for his leadership and dedication. It is a hard job heading up an Institution and he is to be commended for the progress and success his tenure in office saw.
Final Business was then conducted and the meeting closed with all retiring to the bottom hall where supper was served. Following supper Rt Wor Bro Anderson spoke briefly thanking those who has supplied and served an excellent supper.
Portglenone Drumhead Service
Portlgenone Independent Orange District No. 4 will hold their annual Drumhead Service on Sunday 5th July 2015. The annual event will hold particular significance in these years as local lodges mark the Centenary of the Great War, with a range of events.
The event will pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of local men who went from the banks of the Bann to the banks of the Somme almost a hundred years ago. It forms the start of a year of events to mark the centenary of the Somme. The local District lodge has formed a committee to coordinate the events, which will culminate in a Festival next July when the Indepentent Twelfth will be hosted by Portglenone District.
The Drumhead Service is a traditional military institution often held on the eve of battle. It provides a moment of ‘coming together’ with structure and familiarity to the fore, where God’s blessing and protection are sought. Given the close affiliation between the Orange Institution and the military it is a fitting way for us to conduct our devotions.
The Service will be held at Partglenone Marina, Gortgole Road, Portglenone at 3.30pm. Brethren will muster at Townhill Road at 3.00pm and parade the village to Service.
This year’s Annual Portglenone District Drumhead Service will take on added significance as we recall the service and sacrifice of the 36th Ulster Division in the Great War. Our parade and service is held on the first Sunday of July each year and marks in effect three battles.
The first is the Battle of the Somme 1916, as it fell on the first of July and next year will be the Centenary. Second the Battle of the Boyne, which in the old calender also fell on the first and is marked anually on both dates. Finally as part of Williamite campaign of 1688-89 the Battle of Portglenone was fought over two days on the spot where we hold our service today.
The Parade will form up on the Townhill Road and we would inbite all Orange brethern from both Institutions to join us as we parade the village to the Marina. The parade will be led by District Officers and Colour Party with Killycoogan Ind. Accordian Band followed by the lodge and visiting brethern.
We would invite the public to come and watch along the Main Street or to join us to watch the laying of the Drum Head and our sevice, and act of remembrance. This will follow the military form as our District Master Bro Uel Boal, will lay the Drum Head with Colours presented to Wor. Bro Phil Moffatt Deputy Imperial Grand Chaplain who will place them on the Drum Head, before conducting an act of Remembrance, followed by a service. Upon conclusion the parade will reform and return to the Townhill Road.
Snapshot from History
At this time the men of the 36th Ulster Division moved to Seaford on the Sussex coast of England. Lord Kitchener inspected the Division there on 27 July 1915, and later remarked to Carson “your Division of Ulstermen is the finest I have yet seen”. Another inspection took place, by King George V, on 30 September.
3-6 October: the Division moved to France, although the artillery remained in England until November.
The Ulster Division initially concentrated in the area around Flesselles, some ten miles north of Arras. Gradually, men were sent in groups for familiarisation with trench warfare conditions, and were attached to the regular army 4th Division for the purpose in the (at this time) quiet are north of the River Ancre near Albert.
On 21 October the Division was moved away from the fighting area towards Abbeville, where it spent most of the winter of 1915-16 continuing training. One of the Brigades was attached to 4th Division for several weeks at this time and the artillery finally rejoined.
Come and Join us as we mark this historic event.
Ballymoney Twelfth Festival
We are looking forward to the Twelfth Festival in Ballymoney in the run up to the twelfth of July, so come join us for a range of events. From history to culture, parades to parties the week has it all. beginning on Monday with a historical bus tour and ending with the big day itself!
Faith will be at the heart of all we do and this year to mark the Institutions association with St Jame’s Presbyterian church we will be having a Twelfth morning service there.
We will keep you posted on the events as they happen.
Imperial Grand Lodge Church Service
To mark this connection on Monday 13th July there will be an Imperial Grand Lodge Church Service in Boyle’s old church – St James’s Presbyterian Church at 11.00am followed by annual Demonstration in Megaw Park, parade to leave Park at 1.00pm for parade of Town followed by platform proceedings, Chair to be taken at 2.30pm. Return Parade will leave Park at approximately 4.15pm for parade Coleraine Road, High St and Main St terminating at Seymour Street.
National Trust; (c) Chirk Castle; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
HAPPY NEW YEAR
The Officers and Members of McNeillstown ILOL No 46 would like to wish all our friends and supporters a Happy New Year and we send fraternal greetings to all our brethren across the globe.
We look forward to a year of events and aetwvties and ask that if you are a member make it your New Years Resolution to play your part in our growth and sucess. If not then why not come and join us in 2015.
As a lodge our resolutions Include doubting membership and completing the renovation of our Hall.
BBC News – Orange Order: Educational visits prove a hit with Catholic schools
Orange Order: Educational visits prove a hit with Catholic schools
5 November 2014
On the trail of King William – the Orange Order has launched a new educational poster for schoolchildren.
Educational visits by the Orange Order have proved more popular in Catholic schools than in those mainly attended by Protestants, the order has said.
The aim of the outreach programme is to explain both the history and current role of the organisation.
So far, 58% of the visits have been to Catholic schools, 33% to schools mainly attended by Protestants and 8% to integrated schools.
A spokesman for the order said the figures were “surprising”.
To support their outreach programme, the Orange Order has launched a new educational poster, designed as an alphabetical guide to the people, places and events that shaped the organisation’s history.
The ABC poster follows William of Orange, a Dutch Protestant, on his way to victory over his uncle, the Catholic James II, at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland.
In the poster A is for Aughrim, site of a key battle in the war, while B is for the Boyne, where the battle commemorated by the Orange Order every year on 12 July was fought in 1690.
The order aims to continue its school visits programme, by invitation, to expand on the history featured on the poster.
‘Committed to diversity’
David Scott, the order’s community education officer said the enthusiasm of Catholic schools, and the fact that Protestant schools were not quite so keen, was surprising.
One of the Catholic schools visited was St Paul’s High School, Bessbrook, County Armagh, whose principal is former Gaelic Athletic Association star Jarlath Burns.
Pupils also travelled to the site of the Battle of the Boyne when the order launched a new schools workbook in May.
“These are little steps but we are up for it. We are not in any way scared. It is all to do with understanding that everybody who puts on an Orange sash is not bitter or bigoted and the same for anyone who pulls on a GAA jersey”
Jarlath Burns St Paul’s High School
“We are committed to the community relations diversity agenda and we celebrate the diversity that exists within our world and community,” Mr Burns said.
“We welcome any opportunity for people to explain their culture and we’re all about creating discerning individuals – educating the whole child.”
To that end, the police and the Orange Order have been invited to the school.
St Paul’s also took its pupils in uniform to watch the Gay Pride parade in nearby Newry – a point that Mr Burns admitted raised a few hackles, but made an important point about diversity and understanding.
Talking about the links with the Orange Order, he said: “In the last year, David Scott has come into the school and spoken and we’ve been to the Boyne.
“We are actually having a panel discussion in the school next week.
“These are little steps, but we are up for it. We are not in any way scared.
“It is all to do with understanding that everybody who puts on an Orange sash is not bitter or bigoted and the same goes for anyone who pulls on a GAA jersey.”
‘Amazing uptake’
The poster and the talk offers young people studying history at Key Stage Three, a window into the Orange Order.
Mr Scott said: “We aim to try and put history into its proper context and to support the teacher, educationalist and student in the classroom environment.
“We want to give young people a better understanding so that they can explore and discover history, not based on the knowledge they may think they have, on hearsay or on other people’s opinions.
“The uptake has been amazing from the maintained school sector that is traditionally viewed as the Catholic sector,” he said.
“It has been a wee bit more challenging in the controlled school sector which would be deemed to be Protestant. We are not sure why. Perhaps there is more willingness from the maintained school sector – they seem more curious, more inquisitive and more keen to learn.
“It is just a theory, but perhaps in the controlled sector, they think they know enough about the tradition because the majority of pupils come from the Protestant tradition. We are not really sure what the nuts and bolts of it are.”
‘Shared future’
The trail is very much about history.
Debate about the more modern conflict surrounding loyal orders parades in Northern Ireland comes up very rarely said Mr Scott.
“We are only in the early stages of the idea and the concept of a shared future,” he said.
via BBC News – Orange Order: Educational visits prove a hit with Catholic schools.
Sectarian attacks continue – Cookstown: Orange Order hall attacked in ‘hate crime’
16 November 2014
Cookstown: Orange Order hall attacked in ‘hate crime’
An Orange hall in County Tyrone has been damaged in an attack that police are treating as a hate crime.
Two windows of the building on Fairhill Road, Cookstown, were smashed overnight.
A year ago, the Orange Order said a boulder was thrown through a window of the hall.
Ulster Unionist Party councillor Trevor Wilson said the latest attack was “an act of wanton vandalism”.
“It’s a shame that a hall could elicit such hatred in the minds of people who have nothing positive to offer the community,” he said.
via BBC News – Cookstown: Orange Order hall attacked in ‘hate crime’.
Portglenone District Meeting – December 2014
The Portglenone District Lodge No 4 end of year meeting was hosted by our lodge, and was a well attended popular event. it is always a great privilege for a private lodge to host the District and special efforts are made to ensure its a success.
Members travelled from as far away as Larne to represent a number of private lodges. They were greeted and a warm welcome awaited them around the big open fire which was once a feature of many lodges but has become a rare thing now. However the McNeillstown men keep the tradition of a literal warm welcome alive.
Like many rural lodges it is an informal friendly occasion when old friends meet once more and the talk is as much of families and farming as it is of the business that lies ahead. The evening is as much as social occasion as it is a business meeting with the craic and chat starting long before the meeting and carrying long after it is over. As long as there are peats for the big open fire and enough stories to share men have been know to sit into the wee hours of the morning.
Visiting brethren have a chance to survey the ongoing building work at McNeillstown and offer advice and help on how to take the work forward. Then when the members and all assembled, the meeting was called to order around the big oak and leather board room table which was donated by the late Worshipable Master of McNeillstown Bro Jim Wilkinson. Having been the board room table of one of the oldest banking institutions in Belfast where it survived a PIRA terrorist bomb it was saved and given a new lease of life in the hall. While the business conducted around it now many not be concerned with multi-million pound deals it is every bit as important to the men around it. If table could talk the old bank table would have a few tales to tell.
Remembering the Past – Looking to the Future
The District decided that it would be fitting to mark the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in 2016 in a special way especially as the village hopes to host the Twelfth that year. Members expressed great enthusiasm in organising a range of special events with a range of expertise from local historians and ex servicemen being used to plan our response. The events ranging from parades and exhibitions to school presentations with local men as well as those from north and south who fought and died commemorated.
Brethren who had served with the Irish Guards gave a report on what plans are in place for the official British Army commemoration of the battle, and it is hoped that we can work with them and other organisation committees members are part of to ensure we have the best event possible. Members also spoke of their participation in a range of community based activities to promote our history and culture.
The meeting was closed in due and ancient form with prayer and scripture reading. Afterwards a supper was laid on for the members and visitors with the women of McNeillstown once more outdoing themselves with a range of tasty treats.
Following Family Footsteps at Killycoogan
It was a proud and unique night in the history of Killycoogan as two brothers joined meaning that litersally three generations had followed in the footsteps of others in the lodge. Members of our lodge attended and assisted in the initiation of two new members at Killycoogan ILOL No 48 our neighbouring lodge tonight Tuesday 2 December 2014.
Two Gordon brothers received their degrees tonight making it three generations in the same lodge. It was a proud day for William Gordon Snr and their father William Gordon Jnr. These two new members were Thomas and Ben Gordon sons of WM Bro William Gordon and Grandsons of Bro William Gordon both lifelong members of the Lodge.
Following the initiation normal business was conducted and all present enjoyed an excellent supper provided by the ladies who were suitably thanked for this gesture.
McNeillstown True Blues ILOL No. 46 