The Last Saturday Demonstrations

The parade will assemble at the showgrounds and at 12.30pm go via North Road, High Street, Main Street, Meetinghouse Street, Garryduff Road to the Joey Dunlop Centre.

The preceptories will come from six districts – Lisburn, Ballymena, Antrim, Larne, Ballymoney and Ballyclare. It is expected there will be 79 bands and almost 6,000 members of the Royal Black Institution on parade.

The platform proceedings will begin at 2.45pm under the chairman, David Hargy. The service of worship will be conducted by Rev. Robert Campbell, County Grand Chaplain of Antrim and the main address will be by Rev. Nigel Reid, Assistant Sovereign Grand Master.

The demonstration was last held in Ballymoney in 2006.

Dungannon: In all 60 preceptories and a similar number of bands will take part in the demonstration in Dungannon.

The parade will begin at 12pm and go via Lord Northland Memorial Park, around Dungannon town and back to the park.

The districts represented are from the Republic of Ireland, Fermanagh, Primatial , Summerisland, Killyman, Aughnacloy and East Tyrone.

It is expected that there will be 4,000 members of the institution on parade.

The platform proceedings begin at 2.15pm and the chairman will be Richard Emerson, Deputy County Grand Master of Tyrone.

The address will be given by Rev. William Anderson, Imperial Deputy Grand Master.

Other senior members of the institution taking part will be William Scott, Grand Registrar, David Livingstone, Grand Treasurer and William Abernethy, County Tyrone Grand Master.

Newtownardds: The City of Belfast Grand Black Chapter demonstration will be held in Newtownards. It was last held there in 1989.

A drumhead service will be held at 11.30am in the Londonderry Playing Fields when the Belfast City Grand Master William Mawhinney will be the principal speaker.

The parade will move off after the short service and the procession route will be on to the Portaferry Road, Court Square, Court Street, Old Cross Street, High Street, Mill Street, Frederick Street, Regent Street, Frances Street, Georges Street, Portaferry Road, where the parade will finish before the roundabout.

A short act of remembrance will take place at the War Memorial at Court Square followed by the laying of a wreath.

It is expected that there will be 60 preceptories on parade, including 2,300 members of the Institution. They will be accompanied by 33 bands.

Castlederg: The Last Saturday demonstration will be held in the Tyrone town of Castlederg, for the first time since 2009.

There will be approximately 1,200 members of the Royal Black Institution on parade, in 28 preceptories, and accompanied by the same number of bands.

The parade will start at 1pm and move via Castlegore Road, Main Street, William Street, Lower Strabane Road to Castlegore. The return parade, starting at 4pm, will be via Castlegore Road, Main Street, the Diamond, Main Street and Castlegore Road.

The districts on parade will be Castlederg, Strabane, Omagh, Tubrid, Ardress, Moyne and Laghey, Co. Fermanagh.

The platform proceedings will begin at 2.30pm and the chairman will be Harry Monteith, District Master of Castlederg. The service of worship will be conducted by Rev. Rodger McElnea, County Monaghan Grand Chaplain Elect.

Ballyronan: The leader of the Royal Black Institution, Sovereign Grand Master, Millar Farr, will be the guest speaker at the South Londonderry parade.

The demonstration in Ballyronan will have 35 preceptories representing districts in Raphoe, South Londonderry, City of Londonderry and Coleraine. The parade was last held in Ballyronan in 1988. Thirty bands will accompany the parade which begins at mid-day and will go via Shore Road, Main Street and the Coagh Road.

The platform proceedings are at 2pm and the chairman will be Ivan Kelly, County Grand Master of Londonderry.

It will be a special day for South Londonderry District No.4 who are celebrating their 100th anniversary.

Banbridge: The biggest demonstration of the day will be in Banbridge where up to 7,000 members of the Royal Black Institution will be on parade. A total of 112 preceptories and 110 bands will take part in the parade.

The districts represented will be Lower Iveagh, Lecale, Castlewellan, Newry, Banbridge, Rathfriland,Mourne, Largymore, Comber, Newtownards, Saintfield, Bangor and Ballynahinch.

A crowd of approximately 50,000 is expected to turn out to watch the parade, which was last held in Banbridge in 2000.

The main procession moves off at mid-day via Dromore Road, Dromore Street, Church Square, Bridge Street, Newry Street, Newry Road to Adery’s Lane.

The platform proceedings will begin at 3pm and will be chaired by Colin Whiteside, County Grand Master, Down.

Three resolutions will be read at the platform proceedings.