The Best Orange Order Banner

While watching the Orange Order parade yesterday in Hillsborough, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, I photographed my favourite banner.

For those who need some little initiation in our customs, Protestants celebrate the victory of William III at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 on the 12th July each year. This triumph secured religious liberty for all in Ireland. Colourful banners are displayed by each lodge on these annual parades, with scenes that remember our history expected painted on them.

I am delighted to be able to claim some part in the formulation of this new banner for the Fourscore True Blues LOL 340. One of the members of the lodge, Mr James Tinsley (marching, far right in photo below), contacted me last year and, mindful of the impending 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, asked for my suggestion as to what scene from the life of Martin Luther they should represent on their banner.

I consulted with Mr Robert Campbell, a Luther expert in his own right, and this banner divided into quadrants and displaying four major incidents in Luther's life was the end result:

* Luther in the Thunderstorm, 1505,

* Luther Studying the Scriptures, 1512-,

* Luther Nailing his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, 31 October 1517,

* Luther at the Diet of Worms, 1521.