Gilnahirk Purple Star Temperance LOL 1140

The lodge was instituted on the 12th December 1956, in Comber Orange Hall and it is the youngest lodge within the District. It resides in the 'village' of Gilnahirk, Belfast and held its first meeting on Monday 21 January 1957 in the Presbyterian Lecture Hall.

The Warrant was issued in the name of Wor Bro Samuel Boyd, its first Worshipful Master and former member of LOL 1035. Of all the brethren who formed the lodge there is only one surviving member, Wor Bro David Morrow, aged 93 years.

The first banner was unfurled on 6 July 1957 and is adorned with the Bible and Crown representing the Christian nature of the Orange Institution and the Constitutional Monarchy. On the reverse side is King William III, Prince of Orange, crossing the Boyne. All the banners have retained this format.

The Lodge has the unique distinction in that one of its members, Wor Bro Maurice Gibson, PDM, was the youngest Worshipful Master of Comber District LOL 15 and had the honour of representing the District, when Sir Patrick Mayhew QC, MP, became the first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to address a meeting in an Orange Hall.