Chapter Chat: Bands and parading 'woven into the fabric of Protestant society'
With the parading season now in full swing, Chapter Chat has been looking at the personal stories of some members of the marching band community.
Members of the fraternity have been sharing insights into their lives in the series of ‘Marching On’ booklets associated with the Zacchaeus Outreach Project.
The project is headed by Church Army evangelist Valerie Thom, who leads the initiative to seek and publish the personal reflections of band members, and the Royal Black Institution provides the funds for printing the booklets.
Ivan Walker is chairman of the Confederation of Ulster Bands as well as the Armagh Band Forum and a long-serving member of Kilcluney Volunteers Flute Band in Markethill.
He says that “bands and parading are woven into the fabric of Protestant society”.
“Most bands can boast members that are third and fourth generation and some of the earliest bands were very closely linked with the churches of the time and would have played at church functions,” he says.
In a foreword to one of the booklets, he adds: “Bands and parades are an outward expression of who we are and essentially a way of celebrating our faith and culture.”
He believes the band community has been misrepresented, “often in a mischievous way and not given credit for the benefits they give to their local community”.
He says: “Bands offer a safe and inexpensive environment for young people to learn a musical instrument, as well as to promote health and fitness, raising self-esteem, leadership, working as a team, responsibility and pride and achievement.”
Former MLA and Stormont minister Danny Kennedy says bands have played “a very important role” in his life.
He recalls joining the newly formed flute band Bessbrook True Blues as a side drummer in the mid-1970s.
“Slowly but surely, we gained members, fund-raised, purchased instruments and got uniforms – orange and purple knitted jumpers which were hideously bright, but we thought we looked stylish.”
In 1977, he moved on to Tullyvallen Silver Band.
He says: “With the benefit of hindsight, I can trace my move to Tullyvallen Silver in the context of ‘The Troubles’.
“Both Tullyvallen Lodge and Band had been devastated by the IRA massacre on 1st September 1975 of five lodge members in the Orange Hall as they met for their monthly meeting.
“The impact on the local Protestant community was also very profound, and it was a time of great fear and uncertainty throughout the south Armagh area.
“There were countless murders of individual security forces personnel, as well as dreadful multiple atrocities such as Kingsmills and, later, Mountain Lodge, Darkley.”
An older brother had been a member of Tullyvallen Silver for some time and he, along with Mr Kennedy’s mother, had persuaded him to join and try the bass drum.
Practising at Mountnorris Orange Hall, and with the encouragement and patience of new friends and fellow musicians, he says, “I learned to beat (not bang) the bass drum in time to military marches and hymn tunes”.
A proud member of Tullyvallen since then, he adds: “From band parades to the Twelfth of July, from Scarva to the Last Saturday, from concerts to Remembrance Sunday, it’s been a truly great experience for me”.
David Swann is the band master of Blair Memorial Flute Band in Omagh.
He says Blair Memorial was formed in 1975 after the tragic deaths of brothers John and Drew Blair, aged 23 and 25, who lost their lives trying to save a 15-year-old girl from drowning.
“Unfortunately, all three lost their lives,” says Mr Swann, adding that John and Drew were the only children of Billy and Sarah Bair, “who dedicated the rest of their lives in supporting the band”.
He recalls memories of going to band practice in a small, prefabricated building opposite the Blair family home, where “Billy would always come over and listen to us practice, and their home was always open for all the band members”.
He adds: “They seemed to draw great comfort from the band and, every time we would head off to parade, they were always there to see us off and always waiting for us to return.
“I believe that, even in this tragedy, God was at work and has been over the life of the band, giving many young people the opportunity to come together and have an immense sense of pride in our band.
“Out of such a tragic situation, something good began.”
The Zacchaeus Outreach Project can be contacted about booklets – email: [email protected]
Captions:
Two issues in the series of ‘Marching On’ booklets in which members of the bands community have shared their stories