No more really Bonfire Night

I have come to the conclusion that you have to be over about 50 maybe 40 years-old to have great memories of bonfire night and the joy of the build up to the fifth. That period was 'the golden days' when we loved Guy Fawkes Night and built mega bonfires. We can all remember the TV ad with the tune ‘Light up the sky with Standard Fireworks” and the joy it would bring.

We would be excited, you would know when bonfire night was getting closer because the Newsagents would start displaying fireworks in their shop windows and inside there would be a glass display counter that would be full of fireworks for sale.

All the usual stuff, bangers that come in a box of five I seem to remember, sparklers, jumping Jacks, Catherine Wheels, Rockets, and Golden Rain. I am not sure why the Newsagent’s shops were the ones to stock and sell fireworks but not all shops did. My local newsagents didn’t but we had no problem securing our fireworks. There didn’t seem to be a age limit I remember being as young as eleven and having the ability to buy what I wanted, bangers.

library picture

We would go ‘penny for the guy’ as a way of gathering funds for fireworks mostly bangers and some sweets. How it would work? We would build a guy, which was pretty easy all you would need was a pair of your mum’s old tights, some old clothes, and lots of newspaper and something for a head effigy of Guy Fawkes. Then find a spot near to pubs and ask the passer-by for a penny and most times, you would get something but you would need many pennies because there could well be five or six of you in your gang. However, the custom of begging for a ‘penny for the guy’ has almost completely disappeared now I can’t remember the last time I saw someone doing it.

library picture

The heart of bonfire night has gone. We would spend weeks collecting wood and anything that could burn be it door to door collecting or run sacking buildings due for demolition we would be busy. At night, we would sit around a fire guarding our woodpile from rivals who may burn it. If we weren’t sitting around, we would be sneaking off to try to burn down someone else’s hard work.

If you were crazy enough to build your bonfire early, what do you expect? We put ours up on the day. If it was a school day, some others and I would ‘mitch’ from school just to build it putting up the centre pole and building around it. Dad would do our little fireworks display out our back yard and soon as it was over I would bolt out the door to get to the bonfire. We would set it alight and all round Cardiff Bay you could see other bonfires lighting up the night sky.

No more bonfires, health and safety, over 18 to buy fireworks, no more bangers I am so glad I was a child of my time.

Bangers