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The Loyal Orders will come together on Sunday, 1st of September 2024, to mark the seventh annual Orange Victims Day.
This year, as the 1st of September falls on a Sunday, the event will be marked with a Church Service in Ardstraw Presbyterian, Co. Tyrone. The Service will be led by Grand Chaplains Wor. Bro. Rev. David Reid and Wor. Bro. Rev. John Noble.
A short parade and wreath laying ceremony will also take place.
Grand Master Most Wor. Bro. Edward Stevenson said: “This year, members of the Orange Institution and our friends in the other Loyal Orders will come together for a church service in Ardstraw Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon as we remember the 342 Orangemen and one sister who were murdered at the hands of terrorists.
“It is particularly significant that we meet in County Tyrone - my own home county – where 85 Orange members, including Orangewoman and UDR corporal, Heather Kerrigan, were murdered. I personally knew numerous victims and attended many funerals in a turbulent period of our Province’s history.”
On Monday, 2nd September, representatives of the Loyal Orders will gather at Brownlow House, Lurgan, for an Act of Remembrance and meeting of leaders.
Representatives of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, the Royal Black Institution, The Apprentice Boys of Derry, The Association of Loyal Orangewomen of Ireland, The Junior Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland and the Independent Loyal Orange Institution will join The Royal Arch Purple Chapter who are hosting this year.
Since 2018, when the inaugural Orange Victims Day was held, this has been the date the Orange Institution formally remembers the 342 Orangemen and one Orangewoman murdered by terrorists during the Troubles. The majority of Orange victims were murdered whilst serving as members of the security forces.
The Grand Master confirmed that the Institution would continue to lobby on behalf of innocent victims, and in so doing, counter all attempts by republicans to re-write history.
He added: “We have seen an increase in the efforts by Republicans in attempting to rewrite history to make it look as if their campaign of murder was somehow justified, with claims that there was no alternative. We will never allow the perpetrators of violence to become the victims, and this will continue to be a cornerstone of our annual day of remembrance.”
The day will also be used to highlight the ongoing plight of the injured and bereaved.
As always, it is anticipated that a series of commemorative events will take place across Northern Ireland. County, district and private lodges are being encouraged to hold events in their areas which commemorate murdered members within their locality.
This year, the 1st of September is the 49th anniversary of the IRA attack on Tullyvallen Orange Hall, which claimed the lives of four Orangemen, with a fifth dying later as a result of his injuries.
The 1975 Tullyvallen Orange hall massacre in South Armagh was the largest loss of life inflicted on the Orange Family from a single incident during the terrorist campaign.
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