Donaghcloney to host first 12th in 32 years

Upwards of 100 lodges, accompanied by around 80 bands, will take part in the procession - watched by thousands of spectators - in what is expected to be the largest Twelfth parade in County Down.

Orangemen and women of host district, Lower Iveagh West, will be joined by their contemporaries from nearby Banbridge, Bann Valley, Lower Iveagh, Rathfriland, Loughbrickland, Gilford and Newry.

The significant parade will mark the culmination of the ‘Cloney Festival’, incorporating a series of events and activities over five days in the lead-up to the Twelfth.

Festival activities include an Armistice exhibition, songs of praise, family entertainment and fireworks.

The festival will incorporate the opening of a new Orange arch, which will take pride of place in the village on the Twelfth. The arch features a memorial to those members of the Orange Institution murdered during the Troubles.

The main parade will set off from the assembly field at Moygannon Road at 12 noon and proceed through the village to the demonstration field on Drumlin Road.

During the parade, Lower Iveagh West district officers will lay a wreath at the village Cenotaph.

Among the lodges stepping out will be No Surrender LOL 20, from Banbridge, who recently completed a 130km charity walk on the Western Front, symbolically travelling from the Thiepval Memorial in France to the Menin Gate in Belgium.

The speaker at the field will be the Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland, Harold Henning.

The return parade will leave the field at Drumlin Road at 4.30pm.