Orange Order could DOUBLE in size in three years as chief defends parades on Rangers fans YouTube channel
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AN Orange Order chief thinks they can DOUBLE in size in three years - and claims most parades pass off 'unnoticed.'
Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland executive officer, David Walters, said they were the 'greatest institution in the world' and denied they were an 'anti-Catholic, right-wing organisation.'
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David Walters - Executive Officer of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland - during an interview with the Scottish Sun last year
Credit: Tom Farmer
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Parades will happen most weekends across the summer
Credit: Mark Ferguson
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Almost all parades go 'unnoticed' according to Mr Walters
Credit: Mark Ferguson
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An all-ladies parade closed streets in Glasgow at the weekend
Credit: Mark Ferguson
He gave a wide-ranging interview to Rangers fans' Youtube channel The Gers TV where he also said over a thousand parades a year were good for the Scottish economy.
His comments come as marching season across Scotland ramps up towards the climax on the Twelfth of July.
With 45,000 Orangemen expected to parade this year, Mr Walters wants that figure to approach 100,000 by 2028.
When asked about his hopes for the next 'two to three years', he replied: 'I'd love to see our membership double, there's no reason why it can't.
'I mean there are many people that want to link with the Orange institution, join the Orange institution.
'Come and be part of the greatest institution in the world.'
Much of the opposition to the Orange Order comes from the noisy parades that critics see as triumphalist and sectarian.
But he said: 'We have over a thousand parades every year and 99 percent of them go smoothly and with very little noise at all.
The interviewer says 'unnoticed?' and he replies 'Yeah.
'The media would portray us as being an anti-Catholic, right-wing organisation because that was on their agenda.
Hundreds step out for women's Orange Walk through Glasgow
'We are a Christian organisation.
'When we parade we have a Bible at the very front.
'It's about educating them, what the Orange institution is all about.
'We try to argue our civil right to parade on the King's Highway.'
He flatly denied that any Orangemen had been convicted of any offences during parades and said: 'Individuals that have caused problems are the general public and people need to realise that.'
The member of the Perth True Blues Rangers Supporters Club added that the walks were great for local economies - despite some critics saying they scared people away from towns while parades were being held.
Speaking about the economic impact during a walk in Perth, he said: 'Yeah, huge. All the hotels were booked up as well.
'That goes unnoticed.
'Any festival like that would bring visitors who spend money.
'Places ran out of food, some ran out of drink.
'I don't actually know the numbers.
'But the Grand Lodge of England did a study that showed there was millions of pounds of revenue coming in.'
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