12 July Orange Lodge Parade 2016 Southport - Part 1

THE annual July 12 marches in Southport have taken place. Over 125 Orange Lodges from Liverpool and surrounding areas took part, with over 5,000 Orange Lodge members marching. The debate over should be allowed rages on, 1 massive plus is that it helps Southport's many bars and clubs. Sadly with the nightlife community decreasing over resent years, when not in Tourist season, our bars need ever pound spent. This annual event keep many of them ticking over. Irish history is always a hot bed of problems, but if you take that side of it out, it is a colourful parade that has evolved into an interesting spectacle for tourists. Mostly it is very good natured, but as with any politically charged event, that mixes alcohol, sometimes issues do happen. With a high Police presents and the help of the lodges them selves, at this year there was little to no sign of any trouble or disturbances, so this meant the day passed off very well. It’s hard to say, but numbers did seem lower, but this year, but it was on a weekday and not a weekend. We have taken some snaps of the mornings marches and put them on this edition. We will have some more photographs that we took at the evening (return) marches in the next edition... These photos where taken as the first set of parades took place, in the morning. Please email us your views about the event to:- News24@SouthportReporter.com.