Twelfth of July parades to be more 'localised'

The parades were cancelled last summer due to the coronavirus pandemic, however, the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland confirmed a return to parading this July after discussions with the Health Minister Robin Swann and officials.

Cookstown District LOL No 3 has announced that it will meet on the Oldtown before moving off at 12.30 on July 12.

The parade route will be Lissan Road, Princess Ave, Morgan’s Hill Rd, Oldtown street, William Stree, James Street, Loy Street, Chapel Street, Church Street, Stewart Avenue, Cooke Crescent, Killymoon Road, Killymoon Street and then turning at the traffic lights before parading back to the Moneymore Road corner.

There will also be Lambeg drumming around the Cenotaph from 11.30am.

The annual church parade in Cookstown will take place on July 11, moving off from the Moneymore corner at 2.30pm going to Molesworth and 1st Cookstown Presbyterian churches for 3pm services, return to Moneymore corner following the church services. Montober and Drumnaglough Flute bands will lead the parade.

All lodges will be accompanied by their bands and will be following the Covid regulations at that time. Cookstown District are appealing to the general public to adhere to all Covid rules.

In Magherafelt District, there are a number of parades taking part on the Twelfth, the largest of which are at Maghera, Ballyronan and Desertmartin.

The Maghera parade starts at 12 noon from Mullagh Road; Desertmartin, 10.15am from the Orange Hall, and Ballyronan 11.30am from Shore Road.

--- Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.