Bonfire Night is THE event of the year in Lewes. It's an important event for a great percentage of the rest of Sussex too (particularly the
With Lewes being the heart of Bonfire, rarely an evening goes past in these two months without a few loud bangs heard here and there. Bangers, or rookies as they are fondly known, are let off sporadically, usually outside the town's pubs. It's like any noise you get used to; late autumn wouldn't be the same in Lewes without these occasional distant booms (sometimes accompanied by raucous laughter if you happen to be near where they are let off).
Anyway, to the event itself. It's a crazy evening and it's a lot of fun. It's a celebration for the town, in particular for the Bonfire Societies themselves, of which there are six. Visitors are welcome although generally discouraged due to high volumes of crowds - this year the crowds exceeded 60,000. However, the celebrations would go on with or without the visitors or even the bystanding townsfolk (such as myself).
However, I feel that when you live here there's really no avoiding it. I'm not the biggest fan of loud noises, but I am a big fan of sparkling prettiness. And at the end of the day, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. To be honest, I always have a good time, even though I don't like the rookies.
We usually have a few friends round to our house for food and drink, and then depending on our mood will head out to watch the processions, and then watch the fireworks back at home.
This year my husband set about making quite a spread. He baked cheesy Bonfire bread and also cooked up sausages, baked potatoes, and beans that were spiced up with tabasco and JD! Together we made an extremely calorific chocolate pudding to be served with marshmallows and cream, post fireworks. We were also very pleased to serve both our home-brewed beer and pear cider, which everyone really enjoyed - yes we enjoyed brewing the perry so much that we tried our hand at beer, and it's turned out rather well. You can read about all this and other tasty adventures on hubby's new food blog *proud wife beams accordingly*
We had a number of small processions go past our house. One of my friends, who is a professional photographer, was constantly dashing in and out to attempt to get some good photos. He must have taken hundreds, although he believes he only got one or two good ones. The processions are indeed quite difficult to capture well on camera, due to movement and the effect of the flaming torches against the dark of the night, but if you do manage to get a good shot, then boy will it be a good shot!
A group of us went up to the top of the High Street to watch the United Procession, which is the best of all. It goes right through the centre of town, with five of the six Societies taking part. Each has a number of other town and village Societies accompanying them, as well as local bands or from further afield, such as an awesome band from one of our twin towns, Waldshut in Germany. During this procession the Bonfire Societies will pull their tableaux through. These are usually related to current affairs. This year we saw South Street pulling through Harry Potter standing in front of Hogwarts with Voldemort creeping up behind him, Commercial Square present David Cameron putting Britain through the wringer, Borough dragging along a Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club seagull relaxing on top of the team's new Amex Stadium, Southover yanking the 'Pig' Society whilst continuously lighting sodium flares (which are bright pink and blinding!), and Waterloo brought us Rebekah Brooks riding on top of Rupert Murdoch as a dinosaur. These are all spectacular works of art that are later blown to smithereens in the most awesome of firework displays.
A few of our friends went off to one of the fire sites, but the rest of us went home to watch two of the fantastic displays from the top room of our house. We had a perfect view and sat there, sipping tea (or home brew), "oohing" and "aahing" at all the appropriate places. The fireworks seem to just get better every year. It is a privilege to have them on our doorstep (although please not literally on our doorstep, thanks!)
Once everyone was back at ours we consumed the chocolate pudding and chatted into the small hours as rookies continued to boom and the Waldshut band serenaded us with some seriously rocking tunes in the distance...
As always we had a great evening. I always feel trepidation at the impending approach of Bonfire Night. I'm often excited but also a little anxious. This is because there are a few morons, who are nothing to do with the official event, who throw fireworks in the crowd and behave like idiots. They are the people that bother me. Thankfully, they are few and far between. The evening is always great fun, it brightens up November, and it's a big part of our culture in this part of Sussex. If we ever move away, I know I shall miss it very much...yes, probably even the occasional exploding of bangers throughout October and November...
Photos my own.
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