Tobermore Loyalism
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Linked from Tobermore
Contents |
[edit] Tobermore and Loyalism
Tobermore has long had a tradition of strong loyalism towards the United Kingdom.
[edit] Orange Tradition
Every 7 years the 12th of July Orange Order parade for the region is staged in Tobermore, the most recent being 2005, which was hailed by the Mid Ulster Mail as a huge success with the town "close to bursting at the seems" from spectators.
The 12th July 2005 in Tobermore also saw the participation of the Birmingham Sons of William LOL 1003 from Birmingham, Alabama.
The Canadian Orange Order Lodge; Tobermore Crown and Bible Defenders LOL 2391, Toronto, is named after its Northern Irish counterpart, and has on the top of their standard, a painting of the Church of Ireland (located at the top of Main Street).
[edit] Vanguard Rally
Tobermore had also been used for the staging of an Ulster Vanguard rally, which was held in October 1972, where UUP deputy leader, John Taylor made a speech on the use of violence: "We should make it clear that force means death and fighting, and whoever gets in our way, whether republicans or those sent by the British government, there would be killings."
[edit] Loyalist Bands
Tobermore at one time consisted of four bands that play traditional Unionist music; Millrow FB, New Standard, Duke fo York and Blackhill FB, of which Millrow FB would gain wider fame around the country.
During the 1970's, despite Tobermore being far smaller than it is today, these four bands had a large amount of members, however as the village grew the numbers in the bands dwindled until only Blackhill and Duke of York remained, with both being recently seen as one-show bands due to their lack of outtings to parades.
[edit] Tobermore Loyal
In 2006 the Duke of York split up leaving Tobermore village itself no band of its own as Blackhill are based a mile outside of the town. However a couple of months before the 12th of July 2006 parade, a new band, Tobermore Loyal FB, was quickly put together to lead the Tobermore 131 Orange Lodge.
Tobermore Loyal FB is made up of veteran fluters and drummers who had gained experience in various bands such as Millrow FB, Dunamoney FB, Maghera Sons of William and others.
Whilst not as big as some of the rival bands in the area such as Ballymoughan Purple Guards or Dunamoney FB, Tobermore Loyal FB have gained plaudits from many people for their powerful sound which has rivaled that of larger bands.
2006 also saw for the first time no band parade in Tobermore, other than a collection parade by Tobermore Loyal FB. This is quite a turnaround from the days when Tobermore hosted mini-Twelthes and Millrow FB managed to attract over 70 bands for the opening of their arch.
[edit] Millrow FB
Millrow FB is seen by many as a very roudy loyalist band, being true to the Blood and Thunder ethos, however others saw the band as a disgrace. However these people only look at the last years of the band which had been dogged with the shouting of loyalist slogans and a growing bad reputation. It was all different when it was formed in the 70's.
When it was formed, Millrow FB quickly became one of the biggest and most famous loyalist bands in Northern Ireland. They released an LP in 1973, and are featured on a CD titled "Ulsters greatest bands meet". Numbers in the band swelled, with it being said that they could, and did, send half their band to Belfast for the 12th of July celebrations and still have a band bigger than the rest for the local 12th of July parade. The band was also credited with having some of the best drummers and fluters in the country.
The crowning glory for Millrow FB could be said to be the opening of the Millrow Arch, which is said to have attracted around 70 bands or more.
However after the heady days of the 70's and 80's, Millrow FB started to dwindle in numbers as the band started to gain a bad reputation. They were banned from the annual Apprentice Boys of Derry parade for five years, for drunken behaviour and breaking rules the bands where expected to follow on the day. Further disgrace would shame the band when they caused damage to a Roman Catholic graveyard in the town of Bellaghy during a band parade there. A reason for the Bellaghy outrage may be that two of the terrorist IRA hunger strikers, Tom McElwee and his cousin Frankie Hughes, were buried there.
By the end of the 90's the band was a parody of its former self, with many members not even from the village of Tobermore. It was then disbanded.
When many of the older people talk about Millrow they refer to its glory days when it was a well respected band, not the parody that it later became. It may be said that the Millrow of the 70's was an entirely different band from the Millrow of the 90's.
