Bonfire night memories?

[Nicos]

And so, today's tradition of bonfire night has vastly changed during my lifetime ( not that I'm as old as some would like to think!

Its obviously not celebrated in France so I'm left to my own memories of childhood events.
maybe some of you would like to share your memories?

As a child, every year we used to go to a family friend's house who had a veggie plot at the end of their garden ( so lots of debris to burn)
There were 3 families and as the 3rdfamily ran a post office , selling fireworks etc ,any left over ... and treacle toffee...were brought along( yipppeee!)

We'd start the evening off watching the safety announcements/warnings on the TV then set off on foot carrying our carved out swedes from Halloween . I can smell the burning swede now!Those candles were used to light the sparklers.
As soon as we were all there the grownups lit the bonfire and we huddled around wearing gloves, balaclavas and hats on to keep warm ( I swear it was always really cold back then!!!!)
We took it in turns each year as to who made the guy and watch it burn on the bonfire.
Then as it got really dark we'd light the fireworks one at a time ( securely kept in a tin). My favourites were the traffic light and volcano ones .
A few spuds would be left in the fire wrapped in foil to cook
We'd then go inside and squeeze in around a tiny table eating hotpot with a lovely thick crust and pickled beetroot and red cabbage. Followed by a big chunk of sticky Parkin.

One of the most memorable things was then all 6 of us children would wander the streets picking up rocket sticks. Not a car in site! Everywhere was smokey/misty with the scent of fireworks hanging around all evening.
We'd then play Cluedo whilst the grown ups chatted in the other room, then we'd set off home.
Always on actual bonfire night, so never a late night as we'd have school the next day.

No doubt it was a tiny bonfire and didn't burn for long, but it seemed that almost every 4th house in those days had a bonfire lit.



When you look back, you realise the pollution involved as well as the terrible risk of burns.
Burning someone 'alive'(poor Guy Fawkes) in retrospect seems dreadful!
Not very PC either was it?!


Apart from children sitting on the pavement next to their Guy hoping to be given cash or sweets in the preceding days, it was just a one night event with only the occasional banger going off during the week.
Looking back , it would have been a miserable firework display compared to organised events held these days.

but the memories linger!

oh...and how many lines of the poem do you recall?

English Folk Verse The Fifth of November
Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes and his companions
Did the scheme contrive,
To blow the King and Parliament
All up alive.
Threescore barrels, laid below,
To prove old England's overthrow.
But, by God's providence, him they catch,
With a dark lantern, lighting a match!
A stick and a stake
For King James's sake!
If you won't give me one,
I'll take two,
The better for me,
And the worse for you.
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to burn him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King!
Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!

---

So ,what are your memories/traditions?

[Nicos]

Anyone got any good treacle toffee recipes?

[greenishfing]

We also had a bonfire in the back garden when I was a child and my dad used to let off a few fireworks. Me and my sister used to make and dress a "Guy". We had toffee apples and parkin. It always seemed to be foggy the next day.

My husband says that just after the second world war you couldn't buy fireworks but you could buy gunpowder by the pound in the local hardware shop. He used to make his own. How he survived to adulthood is amazing.

[Bren In Pots]

I remember sat on a Davenports beer crate watching my Dad light the bonfire and mum was ready with the garden hose in case it got out of hand. Don't remember having fireworks though only sparklers.

[mcdood]

As kids we'd chuck snadgers on the bonfire from dad's allotment. They never cooked through but smelled great.

[roitelet]

We had a neighbour who was not well so in order to not make too much noise my Dad let off the bangers under a metal dustbin lid...............you can imagine what happened.

[veggiechicken]

We grew up in a small terraced house with an even smaller back yard that was just about big enough for the coal bin, a roofed over area where my Dad kept his Austin 7.......and the outside lavatory (we didn't have an indoors one).
There was an old telegraph pole clothes line at the far end and below this, just enough room for the washing to hang, above a cracked concrete path.
If we'd had a bonfire there, Dad's car would have gone up in flames.
Fireworks night was a Catherine Wheel nailed to the telegraph pole, a couple of ?fountains and some sparklers.

One year, the street pooled their meagre fireworks and we had an actual bonfire on a piece of waste land alongside the railway, that the neighbours rented, where they made fuel eggs from coal dust and chopped wood for sticks. That was a great night, with rockets and Jumping jacks?
I don't remember any food, we were too excited by the fireworks.

[Thelma Sanders]

We always had a small fire and some fireworks, on the 5th! Catherine wheels that never ever seemed to whizz round, just fizzle out! a few rockets and roman candles plus always writing our names in the air with sparklers
We weren't allowed bangers and they always really scared me when the naughty boys threw them behind you out on the street.
My sister and I used to make a guy and sit at the end of the street asking 'penny for the guy?'
We ate bangers and jackets - but mum cooked them indoors on the gas stove - that way the kitchen, at least, was nice and warm for when we got back inside

I can remember one year, '79 or '80 maybe when my kids were small, we actually had snow showers in Kent that evening - the only time I can remember that happening..

[burnie]

Great stories, I have varied memories, we had a large garden so we could have a bonfire and fire works, but some years me and my mates would build a huge bonfire on some waste ground and everyone turned up from the area with fireworks. When houses were built on the field, it was back to our garden again, my dad liked the wood ash for his raspberries and strawberries. We threw tatties in the ashes and ate them with a knob of butter, never heard of Parkin in those days.
We did penny for the guy as kids and I was one of those horrors who threw jump jacks and bangers about, thinking about it if we were doing what we did nowadays, they would ban firework sales...…….(sorry)

[JanieB]

I was brought up in a hamlet. My dad used to host bonfire night with the fire being on our paddock. He bought a load of fireworks and contributions from guests were also gratefully received. Potatoes were wrapped in foil and cooked in the fire. Mum made a huge pan of tomato soup, loads of sausages and chunks of bread.

After I married we didn't really celebrate bonfire night until we moved to our own farm when my husband and his brother built the fire for the whole village and the villagers contributed to the fireworks. I remember my youngest, when he was about 4, running about in a green "real farmers coat" and little green wellies.

Oh, and growing up I hated the squibs (jumping jacks) that the boys thought were funny when they threw them at us.

[rary]

And so, today's tradition of bonfire night has vastly changed during my lifetime ( not that I'm as old as some would like to think!

Even if not as old as I might think it still makes you pretty old
When I was younger there were very few bonfires organized by adults, it was usually one built by the children who also supplied the fireworks, it wasn't till the late sixties that the organised bonfires started and even a lot of those have stopped there are only two towns in this area that have organised firework displays as for guys I forget when I last saw one of those, but there are always plenty of fireworks set off and even though I am getting more deaf they seem to be getting louder

[Mikey]

I didn't have too many fireworks nights as a kid but, my dad was a fireman so he probably thought it was a bad idea. I do remember going to a friends farm one year and he had a huge bonfire but, we only had a few fireworks catherine wheel and individual rockets etc.

My daughter has little interest in fireworks even the organised displays so I wonder if the next few generations will even bother with it. I spent a good hour this morning collecting spent rockets from the local primary school field while walking the dog, something I do most years now and at a guess, I reckon I picked up around 130 ish, though only about a dozen or so of the plastic inners, which left me wondering where on earth the others were.

It's quite alarming the rise of the rocket firework, and the firework box, which has multiple rockets for home use, as in this form it is basically throw away for the consumer. I do wonder if it's probably time to ban the rocket for home use, and just allow things like the traditional catherine wheels which can be disposed of safely and by the individuals once we've finished with them.

I only remember the first 3 lines though Nicos so I'm not sure if that's a reflection of my memory or my age.

[greenishfing]

My husband was having his usual whinge about the weather yesterday. It was cold, wet and miserable but he was insisting that the weather didn't used to be this bad at this time of year until I reminded him of standing outside shivering with sparklers, struggling to light a bonfire in freezing drizzle and on one Bonfire night leaving the pub that was hosting a bonfire to find an inch of snow on the ground. Our memories can be so selective.....

[Babru]

When I was small we used to have sparklers, I loved them then and still do. My dad would also buy a few fireworks and set them off, but they were too expensive to have many.

This was the early 1970's and they started to have scary government information adverts showing people with firework burns, and a scout master in my town had a bad accident at a display they organised. That put a stop to our home fireworks, and the council started to put on an organised display which we went to instead.

I do love a good display (eg Edinburgh Castle Festival fireworks) but am still traumatised by the nasty pictures from the tv (I was quite young), so am frightened by random setting off of fireworks.

The Scottish Government have been consulting on whether they should be removed from general sale (apart from licensed events), so that is the way things look to go up here.

[Can the Man]

As kids we'd chuck snadgers on the bonfire from dad's allotment. They never cooked through but smelled great.

Hey Mcdood, excuse my ignorance but what’s a Snadger .