Children bring back Britannia’s lion

At a brainstorming art session at the youth club on Wednesday, the children identified the lion as a motif that they would like to see included on the new banner currently being created by artist Mark Logan.

A series of five workshops and history/culture talks are currently being held at the youth club by the members of LOL1912, and Lodge member Victor Wray said the idea for the inclusion of the lion had come from the children.

“We had started discussing ideas for the banner with the children and one of the first ideas they had was that they wanted the lion brought back into the banner design,” he said, continuing: “As part of the project each child will do a drawing and all of there will be entered into a draw for a prize which will be presented to the winner on the day that the new LOL1912 banner is paraded, which is going to be on Saturday, May 31 at the Community Day here in the Fountain.”

The Lodge is also producing a special booklet about the workshops and the Lodge history and culture, which will be launched at the Community Day, and the booklet will include the children’s designs.

“We think that this is a great way to reach out into the community and we hope that the workshops will inspire others to do the same. Through them we are teaching the young people about their culture and traditions and we hope that this will help them talk confidently and factually about not only Britannia LOL1912, but their own history and cultural traditions and the Orange Institution when they interact with others.

“Members of the Lodge hope that the workshops will resonate with the children and that it also make them feel that they are a part of their own history and that they can make a connection with the Lodge as well,” Mr Wray said.