The Protestant Faith

01/08/2023

Hi. This is Charlie's wife.
Just to let you all know Charlie has passed away.
The funeral is tomorrow morning at 11.30am from his home.
Gone but not forgotten.

17/07/2023

It’s time the unionists politicians need to stop this NOW, Please Share
This is wrong and disgusting. ‪

So this murdering scumbag is entitled to compensation for his injuries that he causes to himself while out murdering innocent people on the Shankill Road, Men, Women and Children. The ‘victims’ commissioners proposal is that Sean Kelly- the Shankill bomber- would be entitled to more compensation for injuries as a result of his own bomb than the parents of those he murdered. The ‘peace process’ has corrupted all morals. ‬

15/07/2023

Closed until 29th July for a short break.
Recharge the batteries be back soon
FGAU
GSTQ
NS

13/07/2023

Good morning trust you had a great time celebrating our culture and history and remember the 12th of July for loyal Protestants is evely day.
FGAU

11/07/2023

Be proud of who you are.

04/07/2023

Looking back at our culture bonfires.

The Bonfire Tradition
Each year throughout Northern Ireland, hundreds of bonfires are lit and enjoyed in a safe manner by many people. Although if they are not built properly, they can cause damage to property.

The tradition of building bonfires in Portadown goes right back to the 1830’s. It was around this time that the first Arches also started to appear throughout the town. The two traditions have developed together throughout the years.

Bonfires are lit around the world at different times of the year to celebrate many different occasions.

Timeline of the Bonfire
Bonfires have been around since the start of mankind. In Ancient times, Bonfires were not only used for warmth, cooking and light, but they also became a centre of social activity and a religious and spiritual ritual. In essence it became a tradition of remembrance and celebration.

When Christianity was brought to the Island of Ireland sometime before the 5th century, it caused a shift in religious belief. Instead of the ancient tradition of ‘fire worshipers’, a bonfire became significant on feast days and other religious holidays. The whole community would come together around a bonfire and praise God.

Military use of a Bonfire
The military first started using Bonfires in the 1500’s. Fire and light have always been used as a means of communicating and signalling. The military would often use bonfires as a way of signalling that danger was approaching.

The Bonfire and Orangeism
William III Prince of Orange, landed at Torbay in England on 5th November 1688. William came at the request of the people. They wanted King James II removed from the throne. The people also wanted their rights restored as subjects. Their rights had been taken from them by James. William agreed to a new Bill of Rights. This became the foundation of modern day democracy. When the people heard of William and Mary’s coronation, Bonfires were lit all over Ulster in Celebration.

In June 1690, William and his army landed at Carrickfergus . As he marched into Belfast, Bonfires were once again lit to celebrate his arrival.

The 11th Night Tradition
Bonfires are lit on the 11th July night throughout Northern Ireland. These bonfires are a commemoration of William III’s victory over James II at the Battle of The Boyne. The Bonfires are a tradition that represent the Bonfires lit in celebration of William’s coronation and also his landing at Carrickfergus. But the Bonfires also represent the camp fires lit by William’s army the night before the Battle of The Boyne. The Battle was fought on 1st July, but changes to the Christian calendar mean the anniversary is now celebrated on the 12th July.

Other Historical events in Northern Ireland
Bonfires were lit to celebrate the defeat of the First Home Rule Bill in 1886. In 1945, to celebrate Victory in Europe day (VE), Bonfires were also lit throughout Northern Ireland. They were a focal point of the celebrations as large street parties were also held throughout communities.

Bonfires Today
Bonfires in the Protestant, Unionist and Loyalist community are a means of maintaining tradition and are an expression of cultural heritage. It is a tradition that is passed down the generations. For the areas of Portadown and other towns and citys that host Bonfires, it is a community event that brings together the generations. It is around those fires on the 11th night that people come together to celebrate their history. It is also an opportunity for the older generation to have a yarn and reminisce about the old days of building the bonfire.

The Stories are told of days gone by. The days of going out to collect the dead wood and trees before the days of wooden pallets being delivered by lorries!

What is not to be underestimated, is the time and effort that is given to building Bonfires. This effort makes the continuation of tradition possible. As Northern Ireland changes, aspects of the Bonfire will change. It will develop and change as it has done throughout history. What will not change for Northern Ireland Bonfires, is the heritage and history of tradition behind them.

Back in the day there would have been a bonfire in evely street corner in Belfast,they were much smaller that todays bonfires,during the night of the 11th July there would be hundreds if not thousands would go from bonfire to bonfire in a relax family night out,it was a atmosphere of friends meeting old friends and talking about old times.

Unfortunately there is those who don't want for the bonfires to continue,even there are those like SF/IRA,who most of the times dont even live in the areas were the bonfires are build complain about this and that when it does not concern them.

01/07/2023

Major General Nugent , who Commanded 36th Ulster Division, the Ulster Division has been too superb for words ,The whole Army is talking of the incomparable gallantry shown by officers and men. There has been nothing like it since the New Armies came out . They came out the trenches , formed up as if on the barrack square and went forward with every line dressed as if for the Kings inspection, torn from end to end by shell and machine gun fire . We are the only Division which succeeded in doing what it was given to do and we did it at fearful cost . We are fighting today but we have so few men left. I am hanging on till dark when we are to be relieved by a fresh Division for the fresh attack tomorrow The Ulster Division no longer exists as a fighting force and we shall probably go back behind the line to refit and be made up again in numbers, I do not know the full tale of losses yet , but think we have lost about 150 officers and about 6,000 men not all killed and in fact I hope that there are a large number of not serious wounds, The 36th Ulster Division has proved itself and it has indeed borne itself like men . I cannot describe to you how I feel about them , I did not believe men were made who could do such gallant work under the conditions of modern War . The Division took nearly 600 prisoners themselves in the first rush , The Germans were absolutely cowed and flung themselves on their knees asking for mercy. No time for more I am very proud but very sad when I think of our terrible losses. The 2 Division on our right and left failed badly and left us exposed to attack from both flanks. We could do nothing but just stick it out far in front of everyone else and we are still sticking out. This was a Letter 2nd of July from Nugent to his wife.

01/07/2023

As we all go about are daily business remember today is the 107th Anniversary of the Somme
When brave Ulstermen 36th Ulster (UVF) Went over the top.

The preparatory bombardment along this stretch of the front line appeared to have worked well and the wire entanglements seemed to have been cut sufficiently to allow the infantry attack to proceed almost unhindered – after all, the theory went, all the Germans would either be dead or so shell shocked that they would be incapable of resistance.

An Anniversary

By a quirk of fate (the weather was foul) the attack which had been planned for the 29th June 1916 had been postponed to the 1st July 1916. In the old calendar, this was the Ulstermen’s anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Here was a chance for the men from County Fermanagh serving in the battalions of the Inniskillings to repeat the deeds of their ancestors who had played a pivotal part in the victory on the banks of another river. Hymns were sung and in some cases Orange Sashes worn.

Saturday 1st July 1916 dawned a fine summers day with birds singing in the air. It was not going to be mud that the men were going to have to cope with but heat, as they carried their 25 kilos of kit at a walking pace across no-man’s land.

The Hawthorn Mine

Ten mines were detonated along the British front that Saturday morning, nine of them at 0728 hours, just two minutes before the bombardment stopped and the men went over the top.

Over on the other side of the Ancre the decision was made by 29th Division to detonate the mine under Hawthorn Ridge at 0720 hours to allow it to be more easily captured. It was a disaster. The Germans had a ten minute head start on the main British attack and the entire attack withered away under machine gun fire.

There was a knock on effect for the Ulstermen. Because their compatriots could not advance towards Beaucourt, the German machine gun crews were able to turn their attention to the main body of the 36th Division across the valley.

Ulster will never forget the sacrifice that was made by the Ulstermen.
Today 107 years later with the state our country is in,what would those brave men think was their sacrifice worth it.

29/06/2023

28/06/2023

FGAU

28/06/2023

Did you know ?

Portadown Massacre

Portadown, Ireland
Date November 1641

The Portadown Massacre took place in November 1641 at what is now Portadown, County Armagh. Up to 100 mostly English Protestants were killed in the River Bann by a group of armed Irishmen. This was the biggest individual massacre of Protestant colonists during the 1641–42 uprising.

The Massacre
The rebellion had broken out in October 1641 and was marked by attacks by dispossessed native Irish on the English and Scottish Protestant settlers who had arrived in Ulster in the Ulster Plantation about 30 years earlier. At first, there were beatings and robbing of local settlers who lived on land taken from the Irish Catholics by force of arms, then house burnings and expulsions and finally killings. By November 1641, armed parties of Irish men were rounding up British Protestant settlers and marching them to the coast, from which they were forced to board ships to Britain

The violence escalated after a failed rebel assault on Lisnagarvey in November 1641, after which the settlers killed several hundred captured insurgents,'the bloody mindedness of the settlers in taking revenge when they gained the upper hand in battle seems to have made such a deep impression on the insurgents that, as one deponent put it, "the slaughter of the English" could be dated from this encounter.

One such a group of Protestants were imprisoned in a church in Loughall. They had been informed that they were going to be marched eastwards where they were to be expelled to England. The Irish soldiers were said by to be led by either Captain Manus O'Cane or Toole McCann – later accounts of the event differed on this point. After some time, the English civilians were taken out of the Church and marched to a bridge over the River Bann. Once on the bridge, the group was stopped. At this point the civilians, threatened by pikes and swords, were forcibly stripped of their clothes. They were then herded off the bridge into the icy cold river waters at swordpoint. Most drowned or died of exposure, although some were said to have been shot by musket-fire as they struggled to stay afloat. Estimates of the number of those killed varied from less than 100 to over 300. William Clarke, a survivor of the massacre, said during the 1642 depositions that as many as 100 were killed at the bridge. As Clarke was a witness of the massacre his figure is taken as being the most credible

Aftermath

The total of Protestant civilians killed in Ulster in the early months of the rebellion was about 4,000. In County Armagh, recent research has shown that about 1,250 Protestants were killed or about 25 percent of the planter population there. In County Tyrone, modern research has identified three blackspots for the killing of settlers, with the worst being near Kinard, County Tyrone, "where most of the British families planted ... were ultimately murdered.

The massacre was used to support the view that the Uprising was a papal conspiracy to massacre Protestant inhabitants of Ireland, though in truth large scale massacres such as this were mostly confined to Ulster.

26/06/2023

The Bannermen.

So we waved our hands as we marched along
And the people smiled as we sang our song
And the world looked on as they listened to the band
And the Banner-Men held the banner high
It was ten feet tall and it touched the sky

All the kids wish that that they could be a Banner-Man
Glory, glory, glory
Listen to the band
Sing the Sash my father wore.
Ain't it something grand?
To watch the Bannermen
And the drums went, boom as the flutes play.
Kick the pope all the way
And the kids were laughing as they ran along.
And the Banner-Men held the banner high
With an God save the King in his eye.
Bless King William and the 12th of July.