Orange Order service finishes, march continues

The Orange Order service at Drumcree church has ended. The march will now continue to the barrier at the end of Garvaghy Road.

The Orangemen arrived at Drumcree parish church to loud applause and clapping from several hundred supporters gathered to greet them.

While the local Orangemen packed into the church and neighbouring church hall for their annual song remembrance service, hundreds more walked down the hill to congregate beneath the huge green steel and concrete barrier erected by the security forces to block the lane leading to the Garvaghy Road.

During the service the rector of the parish church, the Rev John Pickering highlighted the barrier and heavy security presence 100 yards from his pulpit.

He said: ‘‘The barrier on the road at the bridge beyond the church seems to many people to be saying in a very visual manner that this is the end of the road for the Orangemen and the end of the road for Northern Ireland.’’

He added: ‘‘But this barrier need not be saying we are at any end in the life of our country. There is life and hope for all of us in this area and this country.

‘‘This hope is by trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, who can give us the right relationship with God and our fellow man and find the peace and stability for the days to come and forever.’’

Orange flags topped the razor wire across the barricade, which was plastered with support posters.

As the service progressed police and troop numbers swelled on their side of the barricade and the razor wire strung out for hundreds of yards across fields behind a water-filled ditch and heavily ploughed field.

Numbers of supporters on the Orangemen’s side were down on previous years and much of the field in which in past years they congregated was filled with cars full of onlookers grabbing a bird’s eye view of the scene.