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A culture open to all
William Wray, a member of the City Grand Lodge for nearly 15 years is keen that people of all denominations and backgrounds view the Twelfth as a non- threatening cultural event that is open to all. Here he talks to Sentinel reporter Olga Bradshaw about his hopes for this year's celebrations.
Did you start out in the City Grand Lodge?
I started off in the junior Lodge whenever I was nine years of age and we met in the Memorial Hall - Victoria LOL 175.
Really?
Yeah. They are no longer going now, but I was in the junior Lodge for seven years until I was 16 before I moved then to the senior Lodge, which I joined close to home in Drumahoe Brother Scott Goligher Memorial, LOL 461, and I have been there ever since.
You must have a long family tradition of being associated with the Loyal Orders?
Well, both my mother and father are in the Orange. My father would be in a Lodge in Donegal where he is from, and mother's in a Lodge that meets in the Memorial Hall and she is actually the District Mistress of her district, as well. So we would be reasonably active in our family circle.
As a young man going into the Orange Order did you ever see yourself becoming an office bearer, because you are the City Grand Treasurer, aren't you?
Whenever I first joined, I didn't. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be there. Even from the Junior level right upwards I have held different offices. In the Junior Lodge I was a Lecturer, that's whenever somebody joins you give them a wee bit of the history of the District you are in, and in my own private Lodge that I'm in I'm a Lecturer there. I have served as the Worshipful Master in that as well, and there's Districts them between City Grand level and private Lodge level and I'm the District Lecturer there, as well.
Well, tell me this, what does the Treasurer do, for example. Do you just sit there and sign cheques or is there more to it than just being a title or an honorary thing?
It's not just quite as simple as that. You do sign the cheques, but you have to look after all the finances and every year there are returns that have to be made to the Grand Lodge of Ireland and you have to look after the money side of that. There's paperwork that the Secretary looks after but as Treasurer you have to look after the money side of it.
None of that is your day job is it, the bookkeeping or accounting side of things?
No, it's not, it's far from it.
Well how did you lean to do this then, did you just learn how to book keep by taking this post?
Fairly much so, yes. Fairly much so, and whatever education I had at school.
You must have been fairly decent at maths?
Ach...put it this way I was better at maths than I was at English (laughs).
A Lecturer: What do Lecturer do?
Well, really whenever a new member joins they would go through a bit of the history of the Lodge and basically tell them the day-to-day working of how things are done, the protocols and that there are and things like that.
Would you be the disciplinarian then if things were not adhered to?
I wouldn't be very good at it, but it is maybe a part of the role. It's more education than the discipline. You educate everyone to begin with so they learn the correct way to behave.
And I see you are also the PRO.
I am indeed. It's maybe a job that I'm not very good at but you have to try. It's mainly the biggest thing I have been involved with doing radio and television interviews – I've done a few of those. A lot of people hate doing them.
What sort of things you do for TV?
In the more recent years it has been more reactionary – interviews that have had to be done.
Would it be in response to flare-ups like violence or disturbances?
Generally parading issues and things like that. Then traditionally every year the TV contact you to do a Twelfth round-up piece for their programmes and that, so you have that, and maybe they use you to get in touch with the different people they would be interested in.
Do you enjoy that aspect of it?
I do and I don't at the same time. It is a double-edged sword. Whenever you are doing those sorts of interviews you have to bear in mind all aspects of what is happening around the country.
Are you doing anything in particular to mark the 175th anniversary of the City Grand lodge from a press point of view? Have you found there is a lot of interest given the fact that it is the 175th anniversary.
We have had some, but it is good to see the press given to us from the Sentinel, which is good. I imagine for the Twelfth round-up programmes there will be quite a bit of interest, and I can see interviews having to be done for that.
Do you think that the City Grand Lodge, given the drive towards peace and community unity, that the Lodges have a place within the City?
I do indeed. If I can comment on the 'unity thing'. The Orange over the past five or six years especially, have been very involved with the parading issue and trying to keep everything as calm and as low-profile as possible. It has taken for this year alone, almost two years in the planning, meeting different groups around the City and it will be ongoing and we will be trying to keep everything as contained as possible.
Well, if you could have a hand in the way things were rolling out in terms of the culture and appreciation of culture from both sides, what would be your ideal scenario?
That everyone would be able to celebrate their culture in a free and open environment where everyone could respect everyone's traditions and culture and give them that freedom and space to do it.
What would you say to people who maybe find this time of year contentious or maybe feel that they have something to fear?
I honestly believe that there is nothing to fear – especially around the parading issue. The majority of parades in the City are Orange parades or indeed, coming into August, Apprentice Boys parades, and generally the people on parade just walk along the road and just want to go where they are going to and not be bothered by anyone or bother anyone. So, I think it is a very small percentage of the year and any one single parade, and I think people should try their best to be as tolerant as possible. The main parade is in the City this year and will take about an hour to pass any one point. It is a small percentage of the year.
Would you like to see the shops remain open?
I would like to see all the shops remain open, because there is a real potential for them if we are bringing several thousand people into the City.
You think they will enjoy a positive financial spin-off?
I would like to think so, yes.
What is your message to the people on the Cityside?
For everyone in the Cityside, the residents of the Fountain, the residents of the rest of the City to just keep it peaceful. We are not here after 175 years to cause any problems for anyone or to heighten any tensions. It is not what we are about, we are about peace and the more religious aspect of things whenever we get to the far side of the town, we hope and pray that everyone sees it like that, that we are peaceful.
Is this parade open to anybody and everybody in the City to come along?
Its is indeed. There are absolutely no restrictions.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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