Letter: It was glorious sunshine for a Glorious Twelfth

​We say it every year – that it has been a glorious Twelfth – because it is true each year.

​Come sun or rain, the July 12 parades around Northern Ireland are always popular, and loved by people across the province.

This was apparent in 2023, two years ago, when marchers got soaked in what ended up being a very wet month, not just a damp Twelfth.

And it was very apparent on Saturday too.

As we report on pages two and three and in other reports from the various venues, the hot weather was utterly abnormal for Northern Ireland, but walkers and onlookers just soaked up the sun’s rays and got on with it. There were support vehicles for the elderly and others who found it all too much.

We do not get guaranteed sunshine in NI in summer, so we don’t like to complain about it when we do!

While Discover NI disgraced itself by not only issuing a message about summer events that included the republican west Belfast festival but not the biggest event of all, Orangefest, but doing so on the very eve of July 12, this was an irrelevance to the 100,000+ people who took to the streets to enjoy Northern Ireland’s largest annual carnival.

The bonfires were a huge success the night before in multiple locations and are of growing interest to tourists in places like Belfast, despite controversies over two of the bonfire sites. But the appalling inclusion of a refugee boat on one pyre was a tiny ugly episode compared to the weekend of colour and happiness that will continue today at Scarva.

Meanwhile, the Open is under way at Portrush in terms of the practice rounds. It is arguably the biggest sporting event in the history of Northern Ireland, well suited to a country that has two of the best courses on earth and has had three of the best players. Here is hoping that Rory McIlroy prevails this week.