With Edwin Graham at the wheel, myself,Mark McGregor and Quintin Oliver took a trip to Augher in Co Tyrone and then unto Clogher for a country 12th.
We arrived in time for the preparations prior to the parade
Having marched from the top of the town, down to the bottom of the town and back to the top of the town, everything was packed up for the short journey to Clogher to join the main County Orange Order Demonstration. It was all very peaceful and dignified.Very little fuss and the only fanfare as such was from the bands.
No mass crowds, no drunken revellers, no puke stained littered pavements.
Even the drinkers in the pub left their drinks inside to watch.
All that marching had worked up a thirst so our intrepid reporters (well 3 of us) went for a pint, obviously on the hunt for incriminating evidence of drunken hordes of orangemen. Didn’t find any but the guinness was good.
I did learn that blue sashes denotes temperance. I didn’t see any in this pub.
Before the main demonstration we were then shown around Clogher Orange Hall and a display of Banners. Some of them are hand painted.
Whilst waiting for the main Demonstration we did see Clogher Courthouse for sale as a “unique business opportunity” which i’m sure is ripe for a caption …..
Photographer and visual artist based in Belfast.
I have facilitated community based workshops with groups as diverse as visually impaired individuals in Dungannn, Travellers across Northern Ireland, Young Offenders and many community groups across Belfast.
My work has exhibited extensively here in Northern Ireland in group and individual shows and has been shown in North America and i had my first solo international exhibition in New Zealand. I have been the recipient of a number of grants from the Arts Council Northern Ireland.
I’ll be blogging about Arts and Culture, primarily in Belfast
check out www.moochinphotoman.tumblr.com