Rally planned to save Belfast's Boyne Bridge and the wider Sandy Row area - bands invited to attend
A rally is to be held in about a fortnight's time with the aim of protecting Belfast's Boyne Bridge.
Marching bands are being invited to attend, and details of how to express an interest are below.
More here:
The rally is expected to be on Tuesday, November 5, at around 7.30pm at the William of Orange mural on Sandy Row, next to the bridge itself (though attendees are advised to check for updates on time and place closer to the time).
Billy Dickson, whose family hails from Sandy Row and who grew up there, is helping to organise the rally.
The bridge over which Durham Street runs, spanning a set of railway tracks, is to be dismantled and replaced with a flat road because the tracks are no longer used since the new Grand Central Station has replaced the old Great Victoria Street Station.
It has been shut since Saturday so preparation can begin for its removal.
Translink insists that the removal of the bridge is a necessary part of its plans for the area, which include building a plaza called Saltwater Square next to the flattened road.
Opponents of the plan say that the bridge's history dates back to the 1600s, that parts of the old bridge are encased in the current one, and that the plans would mean creating dangerous crossing points over the newly-flattened Durham Street instead of letting people walk under the bridge.
Mr Dickson, a tour guide who used to work at the Ulster Museum, tells the News Letter that those traffic issues, as well as the general under-development of the Sandy Row neighbourhood itself, will be brought up at the meeting – the theme of which will be "save Sandy Row".
"It's the bridge we were brought up with. It's the bridge we identify with Sandy Row," he said.
"It is an integral part of Sandy Row, and they're taking it away from us.
"We'll use every means possible humanly speaking to keep that bridge."
Whilst the campaign to save the bridge has been under way for several years, it has recently had much greater exposure thanks to the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society weighing in by trying – but failing – to get a court injunction to halt the work.
Mr Dickson added: "For the first time the ordinary person has heard why the bridge is important. For the first time in six or seven years they've heard that."
He said the November 5 rally is being organised largely at the behest of women in the area, who staged a protest last Friday ahead of the bridge being closed off.
Mr Dickson said "we'll have at least one band," and hopefully some Lambeg drummers too, and advised bands who are keen to get involved to email him at [email protected] .
He says that Sandy Row has suffered from a severe lack of new social housing for some time, with parts of the neighbourhood lying derelict.
Meanwhile its residents can see social housing being built in the Markets, another densely-packed neighbourhood near the city centre.
He complained that while much money has been spent on the nearby Grand Central Station, Sandy Row has not reaped the benefits.
"If we don’t get social housing quickly, Sandy Row is dead,” he said.