The band travelled to this parade held in Londonderry on a Wednesday night, to be honest I was worried about pulling a half decent band for this parade mainly due it being held in med week and also many members are still on holidays, the price of a bus etc.

To be honest I could go on but we managed to get a good band of 13 side drummers, 20 fluters, 2 bass drummers, colour party of 4 and a cymbal boy. So indeed a decent size of a band for the parade and many thanks to all members for attending this parade.

We even managed to leave our band hall at a early time and made it to the starting point at 8:30PM so that also a pointer for the future as we are normally late for everything!

It was a really hot night to parade and as usual we where in full uniform so it was going to be a tiring night, there was good crowds at the starting point with Dunloy Accordion band leading the parade, they are a brilliant marching band and swiftly behind them the rest of the parade followed them.

I was able to see a few bands that I rarely see such as William King, Pride of the Faughan Side, Burntollet Sons of Ulster to name but a few of the many in attendance, there where good crowds in the Irish Street area and we were very welcomed by the local people whom I must say gave us a great reception over the entire route.

The parade snaked its way around the shopping centre and into a couple of estates on a hot night it was a long enough route but the people made the long trip very worthwhile.

At this point in the parade I managed to see the Pride of the Bann, Pride of the Rock, Pride of the Maine and Kilcluney Volunteers. So a well supported parade on a hot Wednesday night in Loyalist Londonderry.

Overall a good night for the host band and indeed ourselves, this parade was new ground for us and so far this tyear we have attended more parades in the Londonderry/North Antrim area than ever, and very few of these have been contest parades.

This means that we feel more relaxed at these parades and we all seem to enjoy them more than contests, the big bonus at doing long trips or parades that our band doesn’t usually go to is the warm welcome from the locals.

We received flattering comments by the people who are complete strangers to our band and they simply just walk up to you and start talking like they have known you for years, very unusually experience for many people but its very well thought off by our band.

It is indeed a big difference to some of the parade that we usually attend where nasty people and generally a more tense atmosphere is present this more relaxed and friendly feel good factor up north off our wee country is certainly great to experience.

We watched the remaining bands coming in and the host band East Bank Protestant Boys played the Queen, and then we had a short break and then made the journey home in good time.

It was a good pointer that our trip to Londonderry didn’t seem that different and indeed better place to travel too, many thanks again to everyone for making it a different night on a very hot summers night in the Maiden City.

John Keenan
East Belfast Protestant Boys Flute Band Chairman

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