About
About our Band
Pomeroy True Blues are a Loyalist Marching Flute Band Established in 1945. Since then the band has grew in numbers and in stature now boasting a 35 strong membership. Our band was formed as early as 1945 to accompany and entertain the members of Pomeroy True Blues Loyal Orange Lodge (LOL 293) as they paraded on special occasions such as the Twelfth of July and other historical days in the year. The band and lodge have maintained very strong links up to the present day with many band members being members of the lodge. The band still uses the Orange hall (Bonn Orange Hall, Pomeroy) to practice in and the two groups have been financially supportive of each other when necessary.
In recent years the bands Annual Parade and Competition alongside other Protestant Cultural Parades in Pomeroy have come under scrutiny from - IRA/Sinn-Fein. They have tried with every means possible to stop any sort of protestant parade from taking part, clearly denying us our Civil and Religious liberties. Each year we have to apply to the Parades Commission to march along a route that our band has previously done for 50 years. Each year we are rejected and prevented from progressing past 13- 15 Main Street, Pomeroy, which is clearly the main part of our route. This does not stop us from holding our parade and we look forward to the day when our rights are restored. In recent times, Church parades have been permitted to attend Altedesert Church of Ireland church at the top of the town. This is some progress that is very much welcomed and we look forward to the day when we are able to parade the town on all occassions.
A petition in support of an application to the Courts to have the a loyalist parade in Pomeroy banned provides another example. The applicant was supported by Mr Sean Beagly a Sinn Fein councillor in Cookstown. Mr Beagly was found to be a resident of the village of Carrickmore and not Pomeroy. Of 586 signatories to the petition 219 lived in Pomeroy. In other words the overwhelming majority, 367 were not "residents". Only 35 lived on the actual parade route. 77 signatories did not even live close enough to be in the same policing area. The applicant lived over half a Kilometre from the nearest point to the march. Most of the residents of Pomeroy had not in fact signed the petition.