July 12 with Anne

12 July is the day celebrating the victory of William of Orange, King of England, a protestant, over James III, King of Ireland, a catholic, at the Battle of Boyne in 1690.  Every year the Loyal Orangemen Lodges, LOL, have parades marking the occasion.  This year, Portrush hosted the big district parade for the first time in 20 years.  We were invited by Anne to attend the parade and receive a guided tour of Portrush, where she was raised.  It was an enjoyable day.

The beach and promenade at Portrush.

Boats at anchor in the harbor.

Families enjoying the beautiful weather.  Some complaints were heard about the  70* heat.

Waiting for the parade to start.  The police goofed and forgot to stop traffic, so cars were double parked along the parade route.

Pauline, Anne's sister,  Mary and Anne in Pauline's front yard waiting for the parade. There is a lot of tea drinking that goes here, I opted for water.

 A few of The Loyal Orangemen.

There were flute and drum bands.

There were fife and drum bands.

There were bagpipe and drum bands.

But the one we thought was the most original, something never seen by us before, a truly amazing sight and sound......

The marching accordians and drum bands.