One of the interesting items on display at the
Grand Lodge 'Battles Beyond the Boyne' exhibition is an old
banner box, draped with a Junior Lodge banner which it housed
in 1940.
Behind the artefact, as with all the other items
on display, there is quite a story.
The banner belongs to Star of the North Junior
LOL 71, which was formed in Ballyhackamore village, Belfast,
in October 1933 and held their monthly meetings in Ballyhackamore
Workingmen's Institute in Sandown Road.
With the outbreak of war in 1939 all outdoor
parades were prohibited and the Junior Order's annual Easter
Tuesday demonstrations were suspended. Star of the North celebrated
Easter Tuesday 1940 with a special party for the Junior boys
in the evening at their headquarters in Ballyhackamore Workingmen's
Institute.
That evening the German air force staged a surprise
raid on Belfast, and shortly after the party had ended the
Institute was hit by a German bomb and went on fire. The fire
brigade and air raid wardens were stretched to the limit and
response times were extended as the bombs fell. Realising
the seriousness of the fire the local people decided to fight
it themselves.
The young Worshipful Master of the Lodge, 16
year-old Stewart Wilson, was aware that the Junior Lodge banner
and the Lodge Warrant were still in the building and decided
they must be saved. He entered the building and managed to
bring out the banner, banner box and warrant, and with other
local residents, saved some furniture before the building
was totally destroyed.
On the fateful evening the banner box had actually
caught fire, when Stewart Wilson reached it on the first floor,
and the scorch marks remain evident today. Inside the box
the notice by Bridgett's for the care of the banner is still
evident.
The banner depicts the Good Samaritan and Bro.
Stewart Wilson was a good Samaritan on that evening and ensured
that the Germans did not destroy Star of the North's banner
and warrant.
The information about Bro. Wilson's courage
and dedication comes from John McCrea, a man well-known and
respected in Orange circles in Belfast, and the Imperial Grand
Secretary of the Imperial Orange Council of the World.
|
