The 12th of August 2000 seen the annual Siege of Derry Commerations take place in Londonderry. Over 15'000 Apprentice Boys and 170 bands took part in the parade, which took over 3 hours to pass any point. Despite the discovery the previous day that Republicans had attempted  to committ mass murder at the parade by placing a massive bomb during the route, thousands of spectators traveled from through-out Northern Ireland, and many other visitors attended from Scotland, England and further afield. It was good also to see many of Londonderrys Nationalist population, clad in Glasgow Celtic Tops, out enjoying the parade on what was an incredibly warm day. This would however beg the question why they object to the parade at all, considering its format was exactly the same as always. A few, also clad in Celtic Tops and waving a Republic of Ireland Flag embossed with I.R.A. , did attempt to live up to their intolerant reputation by pelting the Portadown True Blues Flute Band with bottles towards the end of the parade, however only a few individuals reacted (quite justifyably) to the provo-cation. 

KVFB (in Markethill)		Major Crawford Memorial
Dunamoney F.B.	Pride of the Frontier	Curran Flute Band
KVFB	Moneydig	Maghera Sons of William

One major complaint about the day however came from many of the women and children who had travelled to Londonderry to watch the parade and to shop in many of the Cities Department stores. Unfortunatly many shops chose to ignore the fact that the day was the least contested in many years, and refused to open their doors. Whether this was caused by intimidation and threats from the cities republican population is not fully clear, however it would indicate an element of hypocrasy among some shop-keepers when they dont want a parade because they say they will lose business, yet do not open their doors to the thousands who travelled many miles hoping to visit their shops.Apart from this Kilcluney Volunteers were the 6th band from the start of the parade and throughly enjoyed the 2 hour walk. We hope to take part in the parade, leading Markethill Apprentice Boys of Derry, for many years to come.

	Randalstown Sons of Ulster	Ulster Volunteer Flute

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