Twelfth: Independent Orange chief slams Rising leaders' '˜pathetic rebellion'

Around 20 lodges including an estimated 400 to 500 Independent Orangemen were on parade in Portglenone, along with roughly a dozen bands.

In his address to those assembled there, Grand Master James Anderson said that whilst their independent gathering may have been dwarfed by the scale of activity by the Orange Order across the Province, “what we might lack in quantity, we more than make up for in quality”.

Right Worshipful Brother Anderson – speaking on his first Twelfth since being elected Imperial Grand Master of his institution at the start of the year – delivered a very wide-ranging address, which touched on everything from parading restrictions to the EU and abortion.

Among the issues he focussed on were the centenaries of both the 1916 Rising and the Battle of the Somme.

He told his brethren: “I was privileged to visit the Battle site in June... The silence of the place was deafening. It really is a thought provoking place, one could almost feel the terror and fear which the men must have endured as they went over the top.”

He added: “The Battle of the Somme lasted over four months, and the loss of life was on a scale never before seen. The great tragedy is that, in the scheme of things, it achieved so little.”

As well as noting the colossal scale of the Ulster losses, he also praised the contribution of many Irish nationalist soldiers whose involvement in the war had been “for so long airbrushed out by nationalist historians and politicians”.

He went on to say: “The brave heroes of the Somme stand in sharp contrast with those who took part in another centenary event earlier this year.

“At a time when brave soldiers – from both traditions – were fighting for real freedom on the battle fields of Europe, some decided to rise up in rebellion in Dublin in the Easter Rising were remembered.

“These people have been lauded by some as heroes, but they were the enemies of real freedom and the enemies of civil and religious liberty.

“They took advantage of a world war to strike a blow against king and country.

“Their rising was a pathetic affair – but by their actions, they encouraged a mindset of violent rebellion which was to give birth some years later to the Provisional IRA and its campaign of terror.”

He also spoke of the need for justice for innocent victims of the Troubles.

Quoting the News Letter’s front page of June 30 (when it was reported that 93-year-old Jean Lemmon – whose husband was murdered in the Kingsmills atrocity – was pleading for case to be solved before she dies), he said: “We are told that there are financial restraints when it comes to investigating and pursuing these matters.

“I don’t doubt that for one moment, but it’s interesting how public money can be found to prosecute Ashers bakery and Pastor James McConnell or to promote other aspects of the so-called ‘equality agenda’.”