Lundy to be burnt in Derry during Apprentice Boys Shutting of the Gates celebrations

The immolation of a large dummy of the former governor of Derry is a centrepiece of the demonstrations that take place on the first Saturday of December every year.

‘Lundy the traitor’, as he has been dubbed, is blamed in loyalist lore for his perceived treachery during the Siege of Derry.

The ‘Shutting of the Gates’ festivities celebrate the actions of the 13 apprentices who slammed the gates of Derry in the face of King James II of England's men in December 1688.

At midnight on Friday the commemorations will commence with the symbolic firing of a cannon on the Derry Walls.

The Apprentice Boys of Derry Associated Club General Committee has advised the Parades Commission that it expects 2,500 people to take part in the main demonstrations on Saturday. Around 250 supporters are also expected to take part.

Members of the loyal order will leave the Waterside railway station at 11.45am on Saturday morning and make their way across the Craigavon Bridge, up via the Fountain under New Gate to the Memorial Hall in Society Street.

During the course of the commemorations a service of thanksgiving will take place at St. Columb’s Cathedral and the ABOD GC will lay a wreath at the Siege Heroes Mound.

At approximately 4pm ‘Lundy’ will be set alight on Bishop Street close to its junction with Society Street and London Street.

The return parade to the Waterside railway station will take place at around 5.15pm.

Twenty-five bands will take place in the parade.

In a notification to the Parades Commission they are listed as: “East Bank Protestant Boys, Newtownstewart Red Hand Defenders Flute Band, Burntollet Sons of Ulster Flute Band, Pride Of The Orange And Blue Flute Band, Dungiven Crown Defenders, Limavady Auld Orange Flute Band, South Belfast Young Conquerors, William King Memorial Flute Band, Castlederg Young Loyalists, Baron Accordion, Whiterock Flute Band, Castlederg Young Loyalists Auld Boys Flute Band, The Millar Memorial Flute Band, Pride of the Bann Flute Band, Glendermott Valley Flute Band, Somme Memorial Flute Band, Churchill Flute Band, Cormeen Rising Sons, Sons of Kai Flute Band, Eden Defenders Flute Band, Magheravealy Flute Band, Blaugh Sons of Ulster Flute Band, Pride of William Auld Boys Flute Band, The Hamilton Flute Band and Red Hand Defenders Flute Band.”

The ‘Shutting of the Gates’ is one of two main demonstrations held by the Apprentice Boys each year.

The annual ‘Relief of Derry’ commemoration in August marks the lifting of the Siege of Derry and is the largest standalone loyalist demonstration in the world with approximately 12,000 people participating in ‘Derry Day’ annually.

The two parades mark the rebellion of Williamite Derry against Jacobite forces on December 7, 1688 (old style] that precipitated the beginning of the Siege of Derry on April 18,1689, and the end of that siege on August 1, 1689.

12,000 expected for ABOD ‘Derry Day’ demonstration