Southport sees return of the Annual Boyne Celebrations

ON Friday, 12 July 2013, the Orange lodge visited Southport to hold their annual Boyne celebrations. With bands and flags, the parades marched through the centre of Southport in the morning and again in the early evening. Often the parades are marked by disorder, but this year's parades have all passed off without incident according to Merseyside Police. A spokesperson told the press that:- "No arrests were made and we have had no reports of any major incidents." No matter if you agree or disagree with the politics of the marches, this year was an interesting one to watch for another reason. It is the 1st time Merseyside Police did not fully block the roads, resulting in cars heading down the roads that the parade were using and having to be quickly pulled over by motorbike cops just before the parade passed them. This, many pointed out to us was an accident waiting to happen... Lucky it did not happen this time. "This year's Orange Parade again drew a huge crowd as you can see. Disregarding the issues of the parade itself, with hundreds lining the route, it was surprising no one was knocked over." A local shop keeper, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us on the day. Email us your views on this event to:- news24@southportreporter.com and let us know what you think about it. Also please enjoy the photos we took at this year's march, taken as the lodges marched back under a clear blue sky.