Bonfire night 2013


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So! Did ya'll set off your fireworks yet?. Morning here, so you probably haven't started yet. This has probably been gone over before, but did you enjoy bonfire night as a kid? I always enjoyed it, don't remember any injuries back in the fifties, though I'm sure they happened. Biggest thing that bugs me now is that my birthday is on the third so all the relatives bought me fireworks. Always felt ripped off as they would have bought me fireworks anyway. :-). Guess I'll die bitter and twisted. :-)

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No fireworks here - it is election day though, so it could happen at some point!

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Loppylugs, That's a shame, i hope you got a few prezzies as well. :unsure: I wonder what happens to the children born at Christmas, I expect Mums and Dads have to start buying quite early to celebrate both :huh: I,m sure you're not bitter and twisted. :)

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:jumping: Absolutely Loved 'Bonfire Night' as a kid: Dark, dry night, bonfire piled high - ready to light - Guy Fawkes sitting on the top of the bonfire, lots of fireworks - normally bought from either the sweet shops or newsagents. The assortment of fireworks included: Sparklers, Catherine Wheels - my favourite - Rockets. Loved all fireworks available, except Bangers; how was it that these were the boys' favourites?

Dreaded the days building up to Bonfire Night; I'd do my best to stay out of the way of gangs of boys passing: odds on they'd throw a Banger after you and scram, laughing their socks off! - rotten, little toe rags!

A week or so before the event, a gang of us would make a Guy Fawkes: old pair of trousers, an old shirt or jacket, old boots, an old hat plopped on top of Guy's head. There'd always be a pushchair no longer wanted; we'd place Guy in this, then push him to the shops or the number 22 Bus terminus and ask: 'A penny for the Guy please' - must have been lucrative because we always repeated the practise the following year.

Part of a song we'd sing before the great day - used to get we kids into the spirit of the occasion:

'Remember, remember

the fifth of November,

Gun powder, treason

and plot................'

Bonfire Night food: Grantham biscuits, toffee apples, brandysnap, mushy peas, bonfire toffee, cinder toffee, hot dogs with onions (lots of this stuff saved over from Goose Fair).

A song we used to sing as kids as we waved our sparklers around:

'Bonfire Night

the stars are bright

and all the little children

dressed in white'

PS: do so hope it stays dry for tonight, nothing's worse than Bonfire Night - the same with Goose Fair - being cancelled because of wet weather.

:biggrin:

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64 or 65 was terribly wet, never stopped raining all day and night. We couldn't get our fire started so my dad (bloody fool) threw petrol on it and just about set himself on fire.

And then being as it was so wet we lit the fireworks in the porch, which was fine until we lit one called, 'Mine of serpents' that blew a couple of dozen firey balls into the air in one big burst and we were all in the porch. Pandamonium is a good word.

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Fireworks were much more fun before the elf and safety stepped in, Remember the jumping jacks? You never knew where they were going and my brother always set one off behind me!

Then there were the aeroplane things that you placed on a fence post, lit them and they took off like a helicopter, again you didn't know where they were going!

And of course the good old bangers that we would place in most interesting places, like the exhaust of an old (disused) moped! and rockets used to be aimed at the neighbours!!

We would also lace good old Guy with fire works so that he gave us a marvellous display when he went up!!

And despite all these breaches of health and safety none of us ever got hurt!!!

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We must be the only country to glorify a national terrorist who was going to be executed over 400 years ago !

Why have an effigy of him burning on a bonfire ? When in fact he was sentanced to be hung, drawn & quarted.

When being led on the scaffold he jumped to his death, breaking his neck instantly.

I suppose a guy hanging from a rope would not be PC !

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No, the council would be after you for burning a lamp post down....LOL

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Jackson #5,

Here is our version of the Bonfire song. Bonfire Night

The stars shine bright

Three little Angels

Dressed in White

One with a fiddle

One with a drum

One with a pancake

Stuck to its bum.

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Perhaps we should do away with Guy Fawkes. After all, he is so 16th century. Maybe we should substitute some modern effigies from todays political parties. There are many to choose from. Maybe a competition somewhere here. Or even the real thing (ONLY JOKING).

I love the tradition of Bon Fire Night. It was not only Guy Fawkes. He was the poor bu99er that was caught. There were loads of people involved, the Ring Leader being John Catesby. Even the family living at Thrumpton Hall had their property taken from them for their involvement. Apparently, King James I was not in any danger. The type of gunpowder in use in 1605 was so useless it had to be freshly made. The powder in the cellars had been stashed there so long that it probably would not have gone off.

Carni, my grand daughter was born on Boxing Day nearly 18 years ago. She refuses to have another day to celebrate, preferring to have a good moan about it all.

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Carni, us uncouth little brats of yesteryear used to use the word firework instead of pancake. And it wasn't just stuck to his bum.

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We used to find a piece of brick that would fit between the grating over those gutter drains. Then we'd fasten a banger to it and light the fuse. When it was fizzing and not likely to be put out by the water, we'd drop it in the drain. Lots of evil smelling bubbles, a dull WHUMPP! that you could feel through your feet, and everybody covered in stinking drain water. What larks!!

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All I can say is thank goodness for cobbled streets.

It seemed to me when I was younger all the bonfires in New Basford were in the street. Ours was at the corner of Rosetta Road and Suez Street right in the middle of the cross roads. Not only did the authorities allow the practice they sent the dustcart round the next day to clean up the mess.

The blacken cobbles were still there when they tarmacked it.

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As to the burning of the guy, that only came about at the end of the 18th century when street urchins used to make them for the purpose of begging.

Originally known as Gunpowder Treason Day the effigies burnt were Protestant hate figures of the Catholic church like the Pope. Church sermons centred around anti Catholic feelings etc.

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Not so sure about Guy Fawkes being labelled a terrorist? He may have been the last man to enter Parliament with honest intent!

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just come up to bed laying here listening to the fireworks on the forest. been out all day did not get back till six been sleaford and lincoln for a funeral so now we are both shattered dont think i will be long before im asleep once the bangs and the crackles calm down

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Yes, Petrol is not a good idea...

Unbelievable after all the publicity going to great lengths to warn people.

On a lighter note (maybe) on Nov 5th in the early sixties my friend decided he would make an improvised rocket launcher. His mum worked at Bairnswear on Nottingham Rd and he got her to bring home a sturdy long cardboard tube that had been used as a core for the fabrics. I didn't think it was a particularly good idea until he said he planned to rest it on his shoulder and fire the rocket horizontally. It was then I took more interest.

Using a cheap basic rocket and standing on Laurie Ave we fired it down Russell Rd. I think it crossed Gregory Boulevard and made it on to the Forest. As 12 year olds we thought it was great fun.

Nowadays I cringe when I think about the guy at the football match a few years back who was killed when someone fired a maritime distress rocket across the pitch and hit him.

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