Historic events commemorated on 90th Anniversary

The Shankill, from Glencairn to Peters Hill, hosted a "walking pageant" on Fri
27th September 2002 commemorating the 90th anniversary of the formation of the
Ulster Volunteer Force in 1912, which subsequently formed the 36th Ulster
Division of the British Army and fought during the First World War.

Participants in period uniform of the UVF and YCV depart from Fernhill House.
The historic pageant paraded from Fernhill House to the Ulster Hall where a
sell-out performance of drama, music and song took place.

The entire proceedings, 14 months in the planning, were organised by the Great
Wars Historical and Cultural Society.

Group Secretary Colin Beckett told the Shankill Mirror that the event drew on
the historical events and politics surrounding the ?Home Rule Crisis? which was
the stimulus for the formation of the UVF in 1912.

The starting point for the pageant, the old Cunningham estate at Fernhill
House, had been used as training grounds for the West Belfast UVF in 1912.
Similarly the Ulster Hall performance took place on the 90th anniversary of the
famous rally at the same venue, on 27th Sept 1912, addressed by Sir Edward
Carson on the eve of the signing of the Ulster ?Solemn League and Covenant?.

The original famous table upon which Carson first signed was loaned for the
event and over 2,000 copies of the Covenant were signed on the table during the
evening and taken away as souvenirs of the event.

The walking pageant from Fernhill House included people parading in period
uniforms of the UVF, YCV and UVF nurses, also regimental flute bands, ex-
servicemen and floats portraying historic scenes of the gun-running ship the
Clyde Valley and the trenches at the Battle of the Somme.

Standards, all dated 1912-1918, drawn from bands belonging to the UVF Memorial
Regimental Bands Association from across Ulster and the mainland, were brought
together specially for the event.

Thousands packed the Ballygomartin, Woodvale and Shankill Road to view the
display, continuing up Royal Avenue to the Ulster Hall.

?The response from the public surpassed all our expectations,? said Colin
Beckett. ?We want to thank all who contributed to the evening and all the
spectators who came out to support the pageant.

?Quite a few media cameras filmed the parade but none of it was shown on TV.
The media had been very negative about the event in advance but they found
there was no trouble to report on the night.?

The evening continued with the Ulster Hall performance, culminating in the
dropping of 5,000 poppies from the ceiling of the Ulster Hall in an act of
remembrance of those who died in the Great War of 1914-1918.