IN most cities, including my home town of Liverpool, in the 1930s Orange marches took place once a year.

Irish Catholics were on one side of the road, Irish Protestants on the other. When they drew level and almost without exception, fights would break out.

These same marches take place today in our cities. For the most part, they go unnoticed and there is no violence.

So what has happened here to change things? Why, when these marches take place in Ireland, do they still result in violence?

F BILLINGTON (MR), East Crescent, Accrington.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.