King Billy

Back in July my local town of Coleraine hosted the regional '12th of July' parades.  Always a good opportunity for a photograph - see here and here for ones from previous years.   This shot shows one of the Banners which depict various scenes from Orange culture and history.  Images of King William III, William of Orange, or just plain King Billy are plentiful and here we have a typical scene of the man himself crossing the River Boyne on his white charger as his men inflicted defeat on the Catholic King James II back in 1690 or so:

FP4+ on Foma 313 paper. 

Above yer man we see the name of this particular Orange Lodge, Tullintrain Purple Star LOL 1969 and a quick search reveals this hails from Claudy, a small village some way away.  The LOL stands for Loyal Orange Lodge and 1969 is simply a unique number within the organisation and as far as I know nothing to do with the year 1969.  I have no idea of the significance of 'Purple Star' in the name.

Each year the bands from the area parade through the chosen town and then head towards 'The Field', where there are various speeches from Orange leaders and usually a few clergy as well.  The walkers/marchers/banner carriers and musicians get a well earned rest and no doubt a few sandwiches and lemonade before heading back through town and then home.  

It's not just Northern Ireland where these events take place - some in Donegal, others in Scotland then also, as far as I know, in Canada and Australia.  Everywhere there were settlers from these parts, I guess.