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GOLI NI Centenary Parade
28 May @ 12:00 pm
The Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland’s CentenNIal Parade will take place from Parliament Buildings, Stormont to City Hall, Belfast on 28th May 2022. Please make every effort to encourage and facilitate all members to attend.
• The Assembly point will be within the grounds of the Stormont Estate.
• Lodges are encouraged to travel to Stormont by bus.
• All Lodges will leave from the Stormont Estate.
• There will be no parading to the Assembly Point.
• All participants should arrive at Stormont no later than 11 am
.• Lodges will walk in their Districts – Members 4 abreast
• Only County/District Lodge bannerettes and flags permitted.
• No private Lodge Banners will be permitted.
• Orange Institution regalia to be worn.
• Bands will be engaged by Districts.
• 1 band per District – additional bands may be engaged for every additional 150 Loyal Order members on parade
• 1 minibus per District
• On passing the Cenotaph at Belfast City Hall, Districts will parade to allocated points to board their buses. (Only Belfast Districts will parade onwards to their respective Halls.)
• Members of the Ladies Institution and Juniors will walk with their local Districts.
• Members from Scotland and England will be encouraged to walk with lodges with whom they have a local affiliation/connection.
• After Platform Proceedings, the parade will commence at 1.00pm. The 4.5-mile route to City Hall will include Upper Newtownards Road, Newtownards Road and City Centre.
• The designated charity for the event is the Northern Ireland Air Ambulance – no other collections or fundraising should take place. Further detailed information regarding times and logistics will be forwarded when available
Route:
Stormont
Prince of Wales Avenue
Upper Newtownards Road
Newtownards Road
Bridge End
Ann Street
Victoria Street
High Street
Castle Place
Donegall Place
City Hall
Orange Order NI Centennial Parade: when is it? what time does it start? what route does it take?
Final preparations are being made for what will be one of the largest parades ever staged in Northern Ireland – taking place next Saturday (May 28) to mark the NI centennial.
Organised by the Orange Order, up to 25,000 participants from the various loyal orders will walk from Stormont to Belfast City Hall watched by an estimated 60,000 spectators.
More than 130 bands have confirmed their attendance at the event which was due to take place last year but postponed due to the Covid pandemic.
Due to the scale of the parade, Grand Lodge grand secretary Rev Mervyn Gibson has urged spectators to arrive early to secure a prime viewing location along the route.
This will be easily be twice the size of the annual Twelfth parade in the city, so we are encouraging people to come early and pick their spot because it will be difficult to get parked.
“Plan ahead is our key message for spectators. Pick your spot, come early and enjoy the day.
“It is a four and a half mile route from Stormont to the cenotaph,” he said.
Rev Gibson said 265 buses have been booked to bring participants from all over Northern Ireland, who will be joined by people who are travelling over from England, Scotland and as far away as Canada.
“The interest in the parade has been there for several months, but now the excitement is beginning to grow.
“Now that the Rangers [Europa League final] is out of the way, which sadly went the wrong way, this is something else to look forward to and to celebrate.
“This is a major logistical challenge and we appreciate the help of the police, Translink and independent bus drivers in arranging it all.”
The grand secretary said the recent assembly election and current political turmoil has, in some quarters, created a false impression that unionism has been diminished in some ways.
“It is the centennial parade but people are not naive – a lot of people feel that we need to get out on to the streets and show that we are still here,” Rev Gibson added.
The main event will begin at Stormont with platform proceedings at 12 noon – including speeches, a service of thanksgiving and an act of Remembrance.
There will also be family activities and food stalls in the grounds of the Stormont Estate.
The parade will then commence at 1pm, moving along the Upper Newtownards Road, the Newtownards Road, Bridge End, Ann Street, Victoria Street, High Street, Castle Place and Donegall Place, arriving at the cenotaph around 2.30pm
At around 6pm the Belfast lodges and bands will begin parading back to their own districts.
A Translink spokesperson said: “There will be continuous shuttle bus services arranged by the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, operating between Stormont and the bottom of the Newtownards Road approximately every 20 minutes for the NI Centenary Parade on Saturday, 28 May.
“Extra capacity will be provided on our trains, with more six car trains in service. Additional relief services will also operate, subject to demand.
“Due to road closures and traffic restrictions in Belfast city centre on Saturday, 28 May, all bus services, Metro, Glider and Ulsterbus will be subject to diversions and delays.”