Bonfire night

I hate it too, because of the effect the fireworks have on animals. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the one day, but people let fireworks off for weeks beforehand. They should be banned completely for public sale and only allowed at organised displays - even then, why can't they just have the silent ones now? And it's not just animals - they can seriously affect some people with PTSD too. My friend's son suffered PTSD from his military service and even now, the loud bangs can reduce him to a quivering wreck.

Oh dear! I'm a wet blanket. I've never been in favour of Bonfire Night though I feel I have to attend family get togethers with fireworks etc. I keep thinking of the fear of the animals - especially hedgehogs. The loud noises must be so frightening

My younger brother has always loved Bonfire night and I was always afraid that he would get hurt because of his passion for fireworks. When he was about 11 and I was 13 I took him into the town hall in Manchester to see a very graphic display, warning of the dangers of things like throwing bangers at people or putting them in your pockets. 🧨

Years later he still loves bonfire night - and at the moment he’s living with me so this year we’ll re-live our childhood experience by making Parkin, treacle toffee, baking potatoes and then watching a few fireworks in our garden (he’s sadly too disabled to attend any displays). 🎆

My darling husband was a fireworks fanatic as a young teenager. He lived near Ealing Common and after the council fireworks he would scavenge all over for the unexploded bits. One year he collected all the gunpowder and put it in a milk bottle. His parents had a tiny back garden with a door and sash window looking into it. He slyly buried the bottle of gunpowder partly into his dad’s manicured lawn, lit a little cord and legged it into the house and ended up sitting demurely at the table. A few seconds later there was an almighty bang and the door and window were blasted with flying soil and clods of grass. The window was cracked and the garden had a rather large crater in it. My husband and his brothers all denied responsibility and I think they all avoided retribution from their rather aggressive father. It was deemed to be a passing delinquent!

He continued to love fireworks all his life.

I like treacle toffee. I was disgusted that M&S didn’t sell any (yet sold all the other “tat” associated with Halloween, eg pumpkin cakes and sweets etc) I make my own though now.

We loved Guy Fawkes night as children. We always had a small bonfire in the garden, potatoes wrapped in foil cooking away in the embers. A few fireworks and sparklers ro end the evening.
One year, Mum found some fireworks in the airing cupboard, that had been forgotten. It was some time in December. Dad lit the first fireworks, a rocket, it whizzed up into the air, did a quick change of direction and smashed into the neighbour's greenhouse. Whoops! We were hurried back indoors without setting off any more fireworks.
Next morning, on the way into town, Mum bumped into the neighbour who told her about some hooligans setting off a rocket, straight into his greenhouse. Mum sympathised but didn't dare to confess. Good thing she had gone shopping on her own as, had she taken one of us children, we might have let the cat out of the bag. Mum felt guilty for years.

Never seen it referred to as bonfire 'nite' before.

Shouted "shell out", not "she'll"

We spent 3 years in Canada in early/mid 50s. I don't remember bonfire nite, but do remember Halloween. We dressed up in little crepe paper fancy dress outfits but usually fairy tale characters. We would go around with a bag for our treats and shout "she'll out" at the houses with pumpkins in.

When we arrived back in England we were so upset it wasn't celebrated, but bonfire nite made up for it. We celebrated it with cousins and neighbours. Had our own fireworks which we kept in tins and which we were allowed to light ourselves under strict supervision of adults. We took turns and had to wear gloves. We had a big bonfire in back garden and baked potatoes in it. I never remember anyone getting burnt or hurt. But one year a jumping jack landed in a tin of fireworks and set off a lovely display to a few tears. I Remember Roman Candles, Mount Vesuvius, Jumping Jack's, Catherine wheels, Rockets, Sparklers. Happy days

Someone near me has made a big guy with a picture of Starmers face stuck on the front. I’d pay good money to see that on top of the village bonfire🤣

My step mum was letting off fireworks for me as a child, as dad was on a late shift. The wind caught one rocket and it went up her flared skirt, right through it burning a large hole. Thankfully she wasn't hurt but it did put me off. OH did fireworks with our DC or we went to a display. Must admit I've always seen them as a huge waste of money like burning thousands of pounds.

We used to have a huge bonfire & a few fireworks, & sparklers for the children ( I have 26 cousins who grew up locally to us although some were not yet born when I was little). A love / hate time for me - one of my favourite times of the year as a child, & my first kiss was at a bonfire party when I was 16. But then we have had multiple family tragedies in early november over the years, so personally I no longer enjoy it, but still think it was more fun than Halloweeen is.

grandtanteJE65

I grew up in Scotland in the 1950s and 60s - at that time we celebrated Halloween with guising, bobbing for apples and so on, but only children with English parents had Bonfire night.

I was sickened the first time I saw a bonfire with a guy on it, I think I was twelve at the time. I don't care for the Danish traditon of burning a witch in effigy on the bonfire on St. John's Eve either.

Is it not time to get rid of these mementos of savage capital punishment and just have the bonfire.

And Fawkes wasn't burned, either!

You have made me think. I too grew up in Scotland (and have lived in Denmark, agree about the witches) and while we did have a bonfire it did not have a Guy, I think more of burning autumn rubbish and baking potatoes with neighbours., part of acknowledging the coming winter. Like another poster I carved a turnip for Halloween and this came to the bonfire with a candle inside. It was all very low key and not at all commercial.

Jaberwok

Animals may not get hurt, but they certainly get frightened, which for me is not a good thing.

Actually , animals do get hurt or even killed .
Dogs get spooked and escape gardens and get run over by cars . Also, other animals including livestock . There are so many unexpected fireworks that it is difficult to judge when you can safely walk your dogs .

Remember ‘rip-raps’? They jumped about on the ground, used to terrify me!

I grew up in Scotland in the 1950s and 60s - at that time we celebrated Halloween with guising, bobbing for apples and so on, but only children with English parents had Bonfire night.

I was sickened the first time I saw a bonfire with a guy on it, I think I was twelve at the time. I don't care for the Danish traditon of burning a witch in effigy on the bonfire on St. John's Eve either.

Is it not time to get rid of these mementos of savage capital punishment and just have the bonfire.

And Fawkes wasn't burned, either!

After my dad changed jobs from ambulance mechanic to ambulance driver my mum made a guy out of his old overalls and sat it on the toilet wearing his driver's cap. Dad didn't need any laxatives that night he went to the loo

Always afraid of bonfire night itself as the local boys would chase the girls and throw bangers at them and my mother would tell us horror tales of accidents with fires. Loved the lead up to the night, very territorial and we children would collect wood and raid the bonfire stashes from other streets' fires.

We had carved our turnips for "Halloween" and used them until bonfire night when mine went onto the fire when I went to bed.

My school was Catholic. We knew what bonfire night was about.

winterwhitewe never had a guy.
I've always hated them.
Thrte was a village bonfire on the green which I know had a guy - but we were busy at home.

Slightly off topic but Guy Fawkes's lantern is on display at the Ashmolean in Oxford. It is amazing to look at it and imagine the scene that 5th November.
I grew up in Scotland and we had both Bonfire night with fireworks, communal blaze and baked potatoes and 'guising' which meant going to houses and 'doing a turn' (for me it was reciting a poem about pansies). We also did apple bobbing at Halloween and our some odd game of eating bread and black treacle that had been pinned on the kitchen clothes line (yes really!).

Romola

Bonfire night is a big occasion in this town. It's run by the Round Table. Before the fireworks, there's a procession along the High Street, floats, fancy dress, torches (used to be real fire, now electronic). Then a huge bonfire, fireworks, food stalls, it's gret evening out for families. DH and I used to go long after our DS and DD were grown up.

Are you in Lewes?
I know that traditional bonfire night celebrations are a big deal there.
We are hoping to move near there on the South Downs, and is something we are very much looking forward to.

Bonfire night is a big occasion in this town. It's run by the Round Table. Before the fireworks, there's a procession along the High Street, floats, fancy dress, torches (used to be real fire, now electronic). Then a huge bonfire, fireworks, food stalls, it's gret evening out for families. DH and I used to go long after our DS and DD were grown up.

The trouble with the organised displays, as opposed to the traditional back-garden events, is that the fireworks are likely to be much bigger and louder, with the associated deafening bangs.
There is more than one such big and monumentally noisy display not far from us every year.
I don’t remember our back-garden jobs ever being incredibly noisy.

I don’t think I knew ( as a child) why we built bonfires on bonfire night. It still seems odd to celebrate NOT blowing up the Houses of Parliament - and the king - with a bonfire!