IN sweltering weather, Saturday's County Grand Lodge of the East of Scotland gathering in Cowdenbeath saw the streets packed for the Orange Walk which saw no fewer than 43 bands take part.

Estimates put the visitors to the town numbering almost 5,000 people and the sun certainly shone on the event.

Temperatures soared in the conditions which saw the day start with speeches held at Beath High School.

Main speaker was DUP leader at Westminster, Arlene Foster, who condemned bigotry and hatred in her address.

She also wanted to see links between Scotland and Northern Ireland strengthened.

Indeed, she said that building a bridge linking the two countries could really help the economies of both and asked 'why not?'.

The DUP leader said that in 2018 there was no place for intolerance or hatred and she wanted to see the Orange Order in Scotland continue to work hard to see this developed.

After the speeches the parade started from Foulford Road and moved through Old Perth Road and down to Broad Street via Sinclair Drive and Westburn Avenue, then via The Fountain and on to High Street before heading back to Beath via the eastern end of Foulford Road.

By the time the march was on High Street the sun was really high in the sky and the bands and marchers enjoyed the conditions as the pavements filled with people watching the event.

There were over 100 police staff involved on the day. After a briefing at one of the town's primary schools saw the team head out and for the most part the day went without too many problems.

There were some transportation issues as roads were close for a three hour spell to facilitate the parade and it meant that many bus services, including the 19 to Ballingry, had to be changed significantly for a period of hours.

This caused problems for many people and one unhappy resident told the Times: "As a resident of Cowdenbeath I’d like to stress how I felt like a prisoner in my own town on Saturday with so much of it being cut off for so long and how unacceptable it is for good law abiding citizens of Cowdenbeath and Fife in general have to bear witness to this sport of event on a yearly basis.

"We would rightfully never permit the EDL, SDL or any Islamic fundamentalist rallies to pass through the streets of fife due to their impact on community relations but I do not understand how this can differ from that.

"It would be interesting to find out the yearly cost of policing at Orange Order events in Fife and how much of a drain these are on the public purse and police resources".