Grand Master on the Orange legacy

The living legacy of their lodge and the men who opened this hall as a landmark of their culture and Protestant faith could be seen there that evening, Wor. Bro. Robert Saulters, Grand Master of Ireland, said when he addressed brethren in a packed Clounagh Orange Hall, Portadown.

The Grand Master, who was a guest of honour at the centenary dinner to mark the opening of Clounagh Hall, in the Brownstown area of Portadown, expressed the hope that the beautiful hall would continue to house Clounagh L.O.L. No. 9 for many centuries to come.

Bro. Saulters presented Clounagh L.O.L. No. 9 with an inscribed certificate on behalf of the Grand Lodge of Ireland, to mark the event, and he also cut a specially baked anniversary cake.

The Grand Master congratulated Bro. David Burrows on being elected Portadown District Master, and Bro. Nigel Dawson as Deputy District Master, and Bro. David Jones as District Secretary.

Bro Saulters said he was delighted to see a number of brethren belonging to his own private lodge, Whiterock Temperance LOL No. 974 present at the meeting. He said Whiterock Temperance had had a very good relationship over some years, with Clounagh LOL. No 9, "and long may that continue." He said both lodges had many things in common, and they each had a lovely Orange Hall left to them by their forefathers.

The Grand Master said it was good to see lodges keeping in constant contact with one and other which gave him all the more delight to be at Clounagh that night.

Bro Saulters said they both had a common feeling of anger and frustration over the way in which they had been targeted in their traditional parades,
He pointed out that parades issues did not just happen in 1997-98, and he recalled that it started in his first years as Worshipful Master of Whiterock LOL No 974.

Bro. Saulters said that back in 1965, when, after the building of new houses in a predominately Protestant area, allocated to Roman Catholics, republican activists tried to prevent the Orangemen parading along Springfield Road to Whiterock Orange Hall.

Bro. Saulters said he had been at loggerheads at the time with the District Lodge officers for refusing to parade to the Whiterock Hall in 1966.

"They didn't honour their commitment in 1966, but I won that round, and they have been parading to the hall every since," he said,
Now, he added, the District Master of West Belfast has a different confrontation - not with the membership, but with the Labour Government quangos.

Reflecting on the fact that Clounagh Orange Hall had been opened in 1904, the Grand Master said that 100 years ago, the monarch was King Edward VII, who had succeeded Queen Victoria who had died after a long monarchy.
Bro Saulters said that in 1904 many Ulstermen, including Orangemen, were settling down at home after having served with Irish regiments in the Boer War.

He said temperance organisations had been very strong in Ulster in 1904, the International Order of Good Templars being the most successful.

"In London, there was a campaign to prevent women becoming barmaids – a world away from our situation today!"

In Orange terms, the Earl of Erne had been the respected leader of the Grand Lodge, and Colonel Wallace, Grand Secretary, a veteran of the Boer War, was making a big impact. Bro Saulters said Orangeism was not just strong and flourishing in Ulster in 1904. At that time there was a large Orange membership in the United States, and it held a great demonstration in Detroit.
The Orange no longer had that huge membership in the USA, but it was making progress, and he pointed out that a new lodge had recently been formed in Alabama, and is flourishing. Several Orange lodges were operating in South Africa in 1904, their origins resulting from Belfast Orangemen, who had emigrated to that country.

In 1904, a regimental Orange lodge of the Royal Irish Rifles held a Boyne service in a Wesleyan chapel in India, and in Canada, the Grand Lodge of British America celebrated its 75th meeting in Picton, Ontario.

The Grand Master said there was a slump in shipbuilding in Belfast in 1904, due to the decline in demand for warships resulting from the end of the Boer War. Workman Clark's yard in Belfast had been affected.

Bro Saulters said a member of the Clark family which part-owned the shipyard had been elected Grand Master of the Orange Order in 1958 and served in this capacity for 11 years The Grand Master said the Orange Order exists and thrives in many lands - "a tremendous brotherhood" -and he said if they could harness their resources, there was no-one could dictate what they should or should not do. Orange Standard December 2004 – January 2005

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