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Forthcoming Events
Friday 13 August Queensway FB Dunmurry Wedneday 18 August Tamnamore FB Tamnamore FRIDAY 20 AUGUST PORTADOWN DEFENDERS FB ANNUAL BAND PARADE AND COMPETITION PORTADOWN Click here for more info PRACTISE INFO HERE Follow PDFB: 
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Wednesday 12th June - Co Armagh Twelfth Celebrations - Richhill In celebrations of the 316th Battle of the Boyne, tens of thousands of loyalists were on parade throughout Northern Ireland, with hundreds of thousands spectating the various events in the 18 locations. This year, the village of Richhill hosted the County Armagh Twelfth, 12 years since their last hosting in 1994. The County Armagh Twelfth is believed to be slowly getting bigger each year, pipping Belfast to the be the largest parade in the country. Approximately 170 orange lodges and 70 bands were on parade through the tiny village. As per usual, Portadown LOL No. 1 were the biggest visiting district with 30 lodges on parade. Each visiting district parade in their home town en route to Richhill and again on the return from the demonstration. Like every year, we had the privilege of leading Corcrain Purple Rocket LOL 339. The day started off with several orange lodges, accompanied by Clonmacash Pipe and ourselves, parading from Corcrain Orange Hall to Carleton Street Orange Hall were the district parade was to commence. Traditionally, the parade was set to walk down Obins Street and through 'The Tunnel' to reach the town centre, but this was prevented by the PSNI on behalf of the Parades Commission as this is a nationalist area. We started off in fine tune, with the bass drum sounding perfect. We had paraded with 5 colour party, 1 drum major, 1 marshall, 10 drums, 3 bass drummers and 21 flutes; an overall total of 41 members - our biggest turnout of the year so far. Fluting was crisp and clear also, with the early morning start suprisingly not having a knock-on-affect. After a short 40-minute walk, we had arrived in Carleton Street, where the district then parade our home town. Large crowds had lined the route, watching the colourful procession. The district parade was led by Edgarstown Accordion, and when the parade had arrived at the War Memorial, a short service of rememberance was held in memory of those who lost their lives at both the Battle of the Boyne, and this, which is the 90th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. In Richhill, Portadown District was the 5th disctrict on parade, behind Richhill, Killylea, Keady and Lurgan. Again, large crowds had lined the streets. After a two-hour break, we were back parading the village for the final time, with Portadown District being the first to leave the field. Another successful day for all involved. Preparations are already under way for next years demonstration in Loughgall. If some of the below pictures fail to load, try refreshing the page (F5). Video Download Portadown Defenders FB - 0:48 mins - 2.19MB - .wmv format 
If you have any pictures or videos of our Band at this parade, please get in contact. |
