Details have emerged of several objections raised to an annual parade through Dunkeld marking a battle fought over 330 years ago being held later this month.
The PA reported earlier this week that the organisers of the latest planned Battle of Dunkeld Parade are due to go before councillors this week to address opponents to the procession going ahead on August 22.
It is understood all the processions that have been held in the town to date have passed without incident but two years ago the District 65 Colonel Cleland Memorial Lodge was forced to face down claims the events were being “hijacked” by the Orange Order.
Now it has emerged similar claims have been made in a further seven objections members of Perth and Kinross Council ’s licensing committee will have to consider tomorrow (Wednesday, August 18).
Local historian John Gilruth, who told the same committee back in 2019 he believed the parades had latterly come to be seen by some onlookers as “a conspicuous celebration of Orangeism”, has again called for the procession to be prohibited.
He has told PKC this time around: “This is a community with a strong ecumenical ethos at its core, raising questions as to why the committee would permit an organisation with such a sectarian history to parade through its midst.
“It is a town which was destroyed during the battle in 1689, posing serious questions as to why the committee would wish to permit a march which celebrates its destruction.”
Another objector, Michael Hodgson, has told PKC he too believes the commemoration has become more of a march in recent times and that increasing numbers of people are being “bussed in from elsewhere”.
Mr Hodgson is also of the opinion the inevitable disruption to traffic the parade will cause will prove to be “a major inconvenience to the majority of the local community”.
He has pointed out to PKC: “Dunkeld is a small town and even on ordinary days it is already difficult to ensure that social distancing is adhered to, something that matters in an area with a significant older population.
“A far better option for all of the local community, whose opinions and rights appear to have been entirely disregarded, would be to allow a commemoration at the site of the cathedral, but to refuse permissions to close the roads.”
Another objector, Rosemary Wright, said: “There is no local support for this and it is unclear what it seeks to achieve.
“It may be billed as a commemorative for the Battle of Dunkeld but it is impossible to disassociate such a procession from triumphal military events.
“The Battle of Dunkeld was based on religious ideology and given the link with the Orange Order, this perpetuates divisions in our society.
“A lower key gathering for those who wish to attend could take place without a procession.”
Local lodge secretary Graham Brown told the Perthshire Advertiser this week he believed the latest objections betray a lack of knowledge about his group and the significance of the battle to them.
“We’ve been doing this for a long time now and it is always peaceful,” he said. “We’re not promoting division or anything like that - I suspect [the latest objectors] just don’t know what we’re all about.”
The council’s licensing committee is due to hold its meeting concerning the planned parade on Wednesday, August 18 although the council has pointed out it does not have the power to stop events such as this.
