Determination of Orangemen sees Ballytyrone Orange Hall reopen after 'devastating' arson attack - with surge of interest in membership among younger generation
Determined Co Armagh Orangemen have reopened their lodge after a devastating arson attack - and have seen a resurgence in membership among the younger generation.
Ballytyrone Orange Hall, located between Loughgall and Richhill in Co Armagh, was totally destroyed in an arson attack in July 2015, but has now reopened.
"There was a determination to rebuild of course," says Worshipful Master William Irwin, who is also the DUP MLA for Newry and Armagh.
"The hall was destroyed but the lodge was determined to rebuild the hall and the determination has paid off. We got there in the end.
"We were determined to rebuild as a focal point for generations. The hall was originally built in 1897, so it was 127 years old.
"So there is history there, there has always been a lodge there and we are determined that it will continue.
"In the meantime we have got half a dozen new members, mostly in their twenties.
"The lodge doesn't take drink and has a good Christian ethos - the order is a Christian organisation. Many young people who have joined us like that ethos."
Insurance for the attack only covered £78,000 but the rebuild costs totalled £200,000.
"Lodge members have dug deep. It has cost a lot of money and a lot of inconvenience. We were shocked and of course devastated when it was burned. But we banded together and managed to get the new hall reopened."
A significant delay in the rebuilding was the Covid pandemic, he said.
"But we had our official reopening last Saturday with Grand Master Edward Stevenson and all the county officers attending."
The reopening ceremony saw a further £8,000 raised which has been a great boost in going towards paying off the remaining debt.
"Now we are reopened we want to say that this facility is for the community and we want the community to benefit from it.
"We want to make it available to the local community and encourage its use for community events."
Mr Irwin says that, thankfully, arson attacks on Orange Halls are much less frequent than in the past.
"You would be hopeful that we can tolerate each other in Northern Ireland now without that sort of behaviour. It is totally reprehensible, and seems to be just a small element in society, that's the difficulty we have.
"I don’t think it is widespread, just a small element of younger people sometimes."
"But in recent times I haven't heard too much about this sort of thing, although there is always an isolated incident."
In October 2022 the Orange Order said there had been 550 attacks on Orange Halls since the Good Friday Agreement.
The order spoke out after a "despicable" arson attack which destroyed an Orange Hall on the Aghagaskin Road near Magherafelt, which was treated as a hate crime by the PSNI.
A spokesman for the Orange Order said in 2022: "Unfortunately with over 550 attacks on our properties since the Belfast Agreement, it is clear that militant Republicans need no excuse to attack Orange Halls.”
SDLP Mid Ulster MLA Patsy McGlone said at the time: "The people who carried out this disgraceful incident do not represent people in this area who live and work alongside their neighbours in a spirit of respect and tolerance.”