THE Comber Orange lodge which halted a kids summer sports camp with a claim that the GAA was guilty of commemorating the IRA marched side-by-side on the Twelfth with a band that just a week earlier played in a Shankill tribute to a notorious UVF killer.
After Goldsprings of Comber LOL expressed opposition to GAA children playing in the cricket camp, hosts North Down Cricket Club cancelled the hands-across-the-divide event at their Comber home ground, which was due to welcome children from a range of sporting codes and ethnic backgrounds.
Voicing objection to the attendance of young footballers and hurlers at the children's event, Goldsprings LOL said there was “unease” in Comber over the GAA celebrating and commemorating “paramilitary activity”.
But on the Twelfth morning, Goldsprings LOL announced on its Facebook page that it would be joining Goldsprings True Defenders Flute Band at that day’s parade in Dundrum. This was despite the fact that the loyalist band had travelled to Belfast on the previous Saturday to take part in a parade tribute to a feared UVF commander.
A post on the Goldsprings LOL Facebook page announced that “officers and members” of the Comber lodge had joined “officers and members” of Goldsprings True Defenders Flute Band for morning refreshments on the Twelfth. The post continued: “The lodge will accompany the band this morning and this afternoon at the demonstration in Dundrum, before our return parade in Comber this evening.”
But the Comber Orange lodge’s opposition to paramilitary celebrations and commemorations was forgotten about when it celebrated the Twelfth alongside Goldsprings True Defenders, which exactly a week earlier had spent the day in the Shankill/Woodvale area paying tribute to a brutal UVF killer.
The name of Goldsprings True Defenders Flute Band was not included on the Parades Commission list of 25 bands taking part in the Trevor King Memorial Parade. But the Comber band nevertheless marched and played in the parade, a tribute to a UVF killer who headed up the UVF on the Shankill before he was shot dead by the INLA along with two other UVF men in July 1994.
DAY OUT: Goldsprings True Defenders played at the Trevor King Memorial Parade
Known by the name ‘Kingso’, Trevor King was a senior UVF Shankill commander whose murderous ‘B’ Company was responsible for some of the most shocking atrocities of the Troubles. The UVF carried out the Loughinisland massacre two days after the Shankill shooting of King and the two other UVF men who died beside him: David Hamilton and Colin Craig.
Referencing the alleged concerns about the GAA memorialising IRA members, Goldsprings LOL added in its statement: "For a shared and peaceful future, such actions are viewed by some as divisive and incompatible with a truly inclusive society." There appears to be no reference on the Goldsprings LOL Facebook page about the Goldspring True Defenders Flute Band participating in a memorial for a UVF killer.
East Belfast GAC, the club whose children were due to attend the summer sports camp, said in a statement: “The regrettable cancellation won’t stop any of the organisations involved from continuing their great work in building bridges, promoting peace, and sharing spaces for sport.
“We look forward to future opportunities to collaborate with like-minded groups from Belfast and beyond so that everyone can enjoy a healthy lifestyle through sport and community.”
Late this afternoon (Wednesday), Cricket Ireland said it was planning to rearrange the event for later in the month, with a rearranged kids summer sports camp likely to be held at Stormont.
