THE Orangemen are coming to Gourock. Fair Saturday. Nearly forty bands and a wheen of marchers. From the Battery Park they will follow the King’s Highway along Cardwell Rd, then Broomberry Drive, down Barrhill and St John’s Roads onto Shore St and back to the park. A fair trek indeed, especially if you’re knocking hell out a big drum.

The walk will be quite a spectacle. The respectable discipline of the collaretted suits. The crown and the bible. The colour and noise of the bands, some with a military formality, some less so. The gallous swagger and throw of the stick. The familiar tunes. The bowler hats, something that was a sign of authority in the shipyards that became the same in the lodge. The flags. The banners. The dates. The sashes that their fathers wore!

The Orangemen march to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, where a Dutchman, King William the Third (a Proddy) on his big white horse, supported by the Pope, gave his uncle and father-in-law, King James the Second and Seventh (a Tim) a bit of a doing. This all put his wife and cousin, Mary, in an awfy dilemma no’ knowing whether to support her man or her faither! She picked the winner.

The organisation formed around a century after all this occurred.

And even though the Orange Order’s relevance in Scottish society is long diminished, they say that they march to safeguard the Union and uphold the principles of the Reformation. Police Scotland have no objection to them doing so.

There will be disruption for sure. Traffic will tail back. It will affect a good number of businesses, some will have taken the decision not to even bother opening, though some others will find it good for trade. There will be the hangers-on with their cultural allegiance. There is a big cruise ship in that morning and some passengers will no doubt find their way down. Goodness knows what they’ll make of it. The thrill of a local festival perhaps!

The march was given the formal go-ahead at the Council’s General Purposes Board a week or two ago. There was a big pile of objections for consideration. How can this be allowed in this day and age? It’s sectarian and triumphalist. We don’t need this in Gourock. It’s very upsetting! Why do they feel the need? Can they not just stay in the park?

The General Purposes Board had to make a decision. Legal advice was offered. To prohibit the march there would need to be a good reason. Just personally disliking the whole idea of it was not good enough. There have been walks locally in past years, of a similar size, which have passed off peacefully. No precedence of violence or unruly behaviour here. They are a Christian organisation that has been part of the Scottish landscape for well over two hundred years.

They might not be everybody’s cup of tea but I can categorically say that if the General Purposes Board had prohibited the march this Saturday then the Orange Order would have had an appeal into the Sheriff Court faster than you could say No Surrender, and they would have won that appeal. The Council would’ve been out a good few grand in legal expenses into the bargain.

And if you refused one march for being potentially disruptive where would you draw the line? Yes marches? Republican marches? Remembrance Day Parades?

The right to march is not without its limitations or implications. It also carries with it responsibilities. Just be thankful though that we still live in a country that allows it to happen!