Apprentice Boys coming to town

The Annual Apprentice Boys Parade will take place in Lurgan on Easter Monday, 28th March.
Lurgan Number 1 Apprentice Boys leaving Brownlow House on Easter Monday. Photo by Stephen Greenaway / stephengreenaway.blogspot.com. INLM1711-930sgLurgan Number 1 Apprentice Boys leaving Brownlow House on Easter Monday. Photo by Stephen Greenaway / stephengreenaway.blogspot.com. INLM1711-930sg
Lurgan Number 1 Apprentice Boys leaving Brownlow House on Easter Monday. Photo by Stephen Greenaway / stephengreenaway.blogspot.com. INLM1711-930sg

The event is hosted by a different Amalgamated Committee each year and this year it is the turn of the Mid-Ulster Amalgamated Committee. Assisting them will be the Local Lurgan No1 Branch Club which celebrates its 150th Anniversary this year.

A large number of Apprentice Boys from all over Northern Ireland, Scotland and England along with 61 bands will take part in the parade through the town.

A religious service conducted by Mr Roy Dreaning from Queen Street Methodist Church, Lurgan, will take place at 11am at Brownlow House.

This will include the Unfurling and Dedication of a new Bannerette for the Mid-Ulster Amalgamated Committee by the Governor of the Apprentice Boys of Derry Bro. James Brownlee.

Following this the parade will proceed to the Cenotaph in Church Place where a short Act of Remembrance will be held and a wreath laid by the Chairman of the Mid-Ulster Amalgamated Committee in memory of all those who gave their lives in the service of their country in both World Wars and in the more recent conflicts at home and abroad.

The main parade led by Clogher Protestant Boys Flute Band, Waringstown and headed by the Governor, Officers of the General Committee and Officers of the Mid-Ulster Amalgamated Committee will move off at 12.30pm from Russell Drive and take the following route: Russell Drive, Mourne Road, Pollock Drive, Gilford Road, Flush Place, Queen Street, High Street, Market Street, Church Place, Market Street, Union Street and Millennium Way where the parade will disperse at around 3pm.

It has been eight years since the Mid-Ulster Amalgamated Committee last hosted the parade and, as the first major parade of the year, is now one of the largest on the parading calendar enjoying increasing numbers each year.

The Committee apologises in advance for any possible inconvenience caused.