Friday, November 01, 2013

Remember, remember, the Fifth of November...


I see no reason why gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot...
  
Between fifty and sixty years ago, when I was a child growing up in a small Lancashire village, November 5th, more commonly known in Britain as Bonfire or Guy Fawkes Night was probably the most important date in the calendar after Christmas, Easter and birthdays. From early October the local village shops would display fireworks for sale and as the month drew on, we would start to hear the occasional ‘banger’ being set off early by local boys.

Towards the end of the month, our parents would give my sisters and me ten shillings between us (50 pence now, but worth a great deal more back then) to buy our annual selection of fireworks before the shops ran out of our favourites. Oh, the agony of selection – almost as bad as that of choosing our Saturday sweets!  Catherine wheels, Roman candles, rockets, fountains,  and of course the essential handheld sparklers, even the names transport me straight back to childhood and the growing excitement as Bonfire Night came closer.

But there was much more to Bonfire Night than fireworks. Above all there was the bonfire to be built, in a grassy hollow on the hillside above our mother’s laboriously terraced garden. One October Saturday our father would take us down to the local woods, where we would collect fallen branches and tie them in bundles to be dragged home up the steep field above the woods. Later he helped us to build the bonfire, making sure it would burn well and not collapse too soon, and adding to it any odds and ends of burnable material which had been accumulating in the coal cellar for months.

Then there was the guy to be made, a task which was ours alone. An old shirt or jumper or jacket of our father’s or grandfather’s, together with a pair of ancient trousers or overalls and some holey socks would be stuffed with hay, straw or newspaper until we had an approximation of a human figure, with a bag for a head, and, if we were lucky, an old cap or hat on top.

We were never allowed to go out begging for ‘Pennies for the guy’ as more fortunate schoolmates sometimes did. Instead our guy stayed safe and dry indoors until the time came for him to be fixed firmly on top of the bonfire. In the meantime our mother would be busy too, making hard, dark and beautifully brittle treacle toffee to be sucked as we watched the bonfire burn and the fireworks go off.

Finally the day itself would dawn, with fervent prayers from even the most sceptical child that the weather would stay dry and not be too windy. No weekend communal bonfires and firework displays back then. November 5th was Bonfire Night and only the most appalling of weather would change that.

Our small family bonfire was always lit early in the evening, straight after high tea, and we would gather round it with the neighbouring children and watch our father set off the fireworks one by one, while we traced fiery patterns in the night air with our sparklers and ruined our teeth with treacle toffee. When we were older we would sometimes put potatoes in the embers and leave them to bake while we were busy elsewhere.


For our small family bonfire wasn't the only one we attended each November 5th. Our farmer neighbours had an old, open-fronted quarry on their land and in it their large extended family would build the biggest bonfire I have ever seen. Once our small bonfire was reduced to glowing embers we children would all decamp to the quarry for a spectacular blaze. Adventurous youngsters would scale the lower reaches of the quarry sides to set off fireworks from vantage points above the enormous bonfire, while the rest of us toasted ourselves and watched the excitement.

Eventually even this fire would die down, which was the signal for everyone to head back to the farmhouse kitchen for meat and potato pie cooked in enormous enamel bowls and shared with the multitude. Finally we would walk down the short lane from the farm to our cottage and fall into bed, exhausted, replete and happy, to dream of flames and fireworks and fun.

This November 5th I shall be otherwise occupied, but on the drive to and from the hospital, I shall while away the miles with Bonfire Night reminiscences and maybe even a piece or two of treacle toffee.

Images via Google

58 comments:

  1. Thank you Perpetua, for your wonderful childhood reminiscences of Bonfire Night - 5th November. Like you, when I was a child, we too would go, choose & buy our own fireworks and have a bonfire in our back garden.

    Like many of your friends, I will have you in my prayers on 5th November this year, as you hopefully manage to finally have your much delayed cataract operation. Has DH been given the all clear to drive yet?

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    1. Thanks, Ricky. I know I'm a bit early with them, but it was now or not for a while. :-) I'm so glad we can both remember the days when as many families as possible would celebrate their own Bonfire Night as well as sharing those of their neighbours.

      Thankfully DH has been back behind the wheel since last week, so can drive me through the forecast heavy rain to be at the hospital in Aberystwyth by 8am Yawn! :-)

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  2. Thank you for reminding me of this old tradition, which is just not the same now as it used to be... I count myself fortunate that when I arrived on Britain's shore's in 1980 the tradition was still alive and well and celebrated in a more intimate and communal way than it often is now. Such is progress...

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    1. It was my pleasure, Broad. I'm glad you've been in Britain long enough to know the traditional Bonfire Night t I grew up with. I have so many happy memories of the days when it was truly a family or close neighbourhood celebration, rather than a large and unavoidably impersonal event organised by others. I'm not sure it's what I call progress. :-)

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  3. Oh gosh Perpetua you've just brought back SO many memories of our bonfire night rituals. Thank you. My head is spinning with all these reminiscences. Do you know, my sister and I have been having a conversation recently about "what is high tea" . Can you help us? We rather favour a cooked meal around 5pm, whereas we've also heard it could be a sandwich and cake meal about 4pm. Would love to hear your take on it please? Good luck with your surgery. You are in my prayers. God bless.
    Patricia x

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    1. Oops, sorry to make you dizzy with memories, Patricia. :-) I often feel the same when I read evocative posts on other people's blogs, full of vivid childhood reminiscences.

      Ah, high tea, or just tea as we would call it in Lancashire, where we had dinner at mid-day. It was usually a cooked meal, or perhaps in summer salad and cold meat, but with cake to follow, rather than pudding. Until I went to university in the south of England I had never come across afternoon tea (light refreshments of sandwiches and cake at 4pm) except in books or at chapel socials. :-) Thanks for the prayers and good wishes.

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  4. Memories! I can remember making treacle toffee too. I can remember, being eighteen and we had an enormous bonfire on one of our fields and we (the youth of the village) got together and collected all this stuff to build it. Most of the village people turned up (Health & Safety didn't exist then, but thankfully no-one got hurt.) The worst that happened was when one of the girls was being chased by a Jacky Jumper, slipped over and landed in a cow pat, it was great fun.

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    1. The memories are always there, lurking, Molly. :-) I'm glad you made treacle toffee too and had such fun at your bonfire. The stuff that was collected for the big bonfires was amazing - old furniture, as well as wood and rubbish. Talk about environmental pollution! We girls weren't allowed bangers or jumping jacks, but there were always plenty at the quarry fire and sometimes in the school playground, if our headmistress wasn't around. :-)

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  5. Best wishes for your op.....at least you've already done all the cooking ahead so I hope you've had time to read, relax and organise your audio books.

    Thank you for a lovely post....I didn't know about Guy Fawkes' Night until we moved to England...but took to it with gusto.
    We too used to join with the neighbours to build a bonfire and I can remember much discussion in the weeks ahead as we spent our pocket money on fireworks.....the Mine of Serpents was too expensive to come out of the week's pocket money so we would go shares.
    Clearly some boys could not wait...the playground was always alive with jumping jacks...and apart from a lecture and threats of confiscation at assembly nothing much was done about it.

    We had toffee apples rather than treacle toffee - but I remember bars of the latter which came with a hammer to break it.

    Fireworks abound here, though Health and Safety is beginning to make noises...so I'll raise a sparkler to you on the 5th.

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    1. Thanks Helen. Unfortunately the first lot got eaten when DH came home from hospital, so I've just stocked up the freezer again.

      I had a feeling Guy Fawkes Night isn't celebrated in Scotland, so I'm glad you had the chance to experience all the fun of the preparations and the event itself. We sisters had very little pocket money, hence the 10 shillings, but the fun of selection and the awareness of the relative costs were just the same. And boys being boys everywhere, there were plenty of bangs in our playgrounds too. Interestingly I never saw a toffee apple except at the fair, but broke many a tray of treacle toffee with a hammer. :-)

      The French seem to adore fireworks too. I've never seen so many set off for personal as well as local celebrations.

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    2. It wisnae oor parlyment so it wisnae....

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    3. No, indeed, it was well before the Act of Union.

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  6. Dear Perpetua - I used to love potatoes from the embers, as long as you found the right spot for them so that they didn't burn. Back then it seemed to be much colder on bonfire night and everyone celebrated it on the actual day, and then there were the naughty boys who would throw jumping jacks around that would go off with a great big bang. Health and safety has won the day now.
    Will be thinking about you on 5th November Perpetua, and sending you my very best wishes across the miles.

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    1. We obviously had very similar childhood experiences, Rosemary. Those slightly smoky baked potatoes were wonderful. :-) Yes, there was much more freedom back then and though I'm sure there must have been mishaps and injuries at times, I never knew of anything serious, despite the boys and their jumping jacks and bangers. I think our fireworks were smaller and simpler too, but just as much fun.

      Thanks for the good wishes. Not much longer to wait now.

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  7. Wonderfully descriptive as ever Perpetua. It makes me feel a nostalgia for something I never knew.
    My early childhood was of course during 2nd world war and blackout rules were in place, so no-one could so much as light a match after dark.
    The tradition from pre-war days did not return generally until about 1950 or so and by then i was much too grown up 14 or 15, to attend anything so childish.
    These days I try not to jump at every 'bomb' type bang and keep a weather eye out for any cats left out by careless owners.
    Will be thinking (and praying) for you on the 5th.

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    1. Oh poor Ray, how sad to have missed the whole Bonfire Night experience like that. Of course the few years difference in our ages encompasses the war years, and I didn't know that Bonfire Night didn't re-establish itself as soon as the war was over. It was part of my childhood as far back as I can remember, but only reached its full glory when we moved to the country just before I was seven. I can well imagine you noy being interested by the time you were a teenager, whereas I grew up with it and went on enjoying it until I left home for university.

      Thanks for the prayers - much appreciated.

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  8. I simply loved reading this. You recounted your memory of a spectacular event of your childhood in such a captivating way that I was fascinated by it all. We had no such holidays here in the U.S. I've only read of such celebrations in novels, but you captured the exciting nature of it all much better than any I have read in a novel. Thanks for sharing this with us.

    Blessings on you as you go in for your surgery. I'm sure you will be very glad to get it behind you.

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    1. I'm so glad you enjoyed my reminiscences so much, Sally. Of course you have major national celebrations like the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving, but Bonfire Night is rather different in that it commemorates a failure rather than a success and it's also primarily a children's celebration, which adults just making it possible and keeping it safe. We looked forward to it year after year and it never lost its magic, which we tried to recapture with our own children. Nowadays the trend is for big and well-organised community bonfires and firework displays on the nearest weekend to the 5th, but for me that's not the same.

      Thanks for the good wishes., You're right - I just want ii over and done with now.

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  9. What a lovely look back at your childhood! It sounds like a wonderful memory to hold close. I will be thinking of you having your cataract surgery this week. Coincidentally, I am driving down to my mom's tomorrow to help her because she is having cataract surgery on Monday.

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    1. Thanks, Kristie and please give your mother my very best wishes for her cataract surgery.

      Of course all my Bonfire Night memories run together as we never missed having the celebration throughout my childhood. Happy days....

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  10. I enjoyed reading about your traditions. I guess constructing your Guy would be akin to us carving our jack o' lanterns here in the states.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it, Chicken. Yes, I think making the guy is very similar to carving your Halloween jack o'lanterns - a children's activity for what is basically a children's annual celebration. Halloween didn't figure at all in my childhood.

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  11. Very much how I remember Bonfire - or Plot - Night as we used to call it. Ours was always at my grandparents' house and I think my Granny made the best toffee ever in the whole world. We also had parkin pigs, which my mum still makes and parkin, which was different from the pigs...
    Will be thinking of you on the 5th.
    Axxx

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    1. Do you know, I've never heard Bonfire Night called that, Annie? i wonder whether it's peculiar to Yorkshire? We talked about Guy Fawkes Day, but it was usually Bonfire Night for us. Interestingly, although parkin was a firm family favourite, and my Grandma made the best parkin ever, it was eaten year-round and wasn't particularly associated with Bonfire Night I've also never heard of parkin pigs. Do tell us more.....

      Thanks for the good wishes. I'll be glad when it's over and done with.

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  12. Lovely memories; no bonfire 5th Nov night for me, but there were many other feasts when bonfires were part of the excitement. There is something so fascinating about fires, atavistic even.

    Good luck with your op, it’ll all be over soon and you’ll be able to see as well as when you were a nipper warming yourself at the Guy Fawkes fire.

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    1. Glad you enjoyed them. Yes, there's something very atavistic about our delight in bonfires. Shades of the Beltane fires except in the other half of the year.

      Thanks for the good wishes. I'll be glad when it's all done and dusted and I can treat myself to those new glasses I've been promising myself for so long. :-)

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  13. Good luck with your eye op! I'll be thinking of you and eagerly awaiting news of your return. From what I hear the results can be pretty amazing......

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    1. Thanks, Sian. I'm not having vision correction, but it will great to have a clear, if still short-sighted right eye again. :-) Watch this space.....

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  14. I recall Bonfire Night being a much bigger event than it now seems to be - encumbered by health and safety and overtaken by the rather tacky halloween I think. That said on my trip up North last week I was pleased to see some huge old-style bonfires being prepared on the beaches - furniture, old beds, driftwood - proper bonfires I thought.

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    1. I'm sure you're right about the combined influence of health and safety and the ever-growing Halloween-fest. I'm glad we both have those memories of the way things were and also to hear that up north they are still building proper bonfires that include old furniture. A bonfire on a Northumberland beach must be quite a sight!

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  15. Your description Perpetua wafts me straight back to those exciting Bonfire Nights of ours years ago as do two sketches I still have that I did in ’66 (by fire light) one of Little Sis holding a sparkler and the other of our dear mother sitting facing away to the bonfire & warming her knees – I must scan them for you & Little Sis.
    Regarding our neighbours’ bonfire in the quarry do you remember that the farmer’s sons used to climb up the quarry walls to light fireworks on stone ledges?
    Thanks for the treacle toffee recipe which I will try to make for our friends’ Bonfire Party this week – they live up on the Cotswold Escarpment so their bonfire on an open hillside has a similar drama to our childhood bonfires.
    We will be thinking of you on 5th Big Sis and wish you a successful op and speedy recovery.

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    1. They were exciting, weren't they, PolkaDot? I think a lot of that was due to how much preparation we all did to make it happen. It wasn't just something we attended but something we had created..I would love to see those sketches of a Bonfire Night I wasn't present at, being at university by then.

      Yes, I do remember the boys climbing the quarry sides and mentioned it in passing towards the end of the post. I used to watch them in awe, having absolutely no head for heights even as a child. I also remember us trying to resuscitate the embers of the big fire the following day, totally unsupervised by any adults. Health and safety would have a fit at the mere idea. :-)

      I got the recipe from Mummy when our two were small and managed to find it in my bundle of loose recipes. I may well make some myself this afternoon for old times' sake.

      Thanks for the good wishes. We'll let you know how it went.

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  16. I really enjoyed your childhood reminiscences about Guy Fawkes Night celebrations, Perpetua. I could really picture you with your family, building the fire along with anticipation of the fireworks, the meat and potatoes and just the general joy of being with your family all working together in celebration. And you'll be remembered on the 5th! No more delays! It will be so good for you to get this behind you, and after all that you and DH have been through in the past couple of months, you can close out 2013 with surgeries behind you! ox (breathe lighter).

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it Debra, as I really had fun remembering it all. Being an annual celebration, we became very good at all the preparations as we got older, but the enjoyment never lessened. We were fortunate to be able to share our small bonfire with our neighbours and then have the fun of their big one.

      Thanks for the good wishes. You're so right that I'll be glad to have it over and done with. It's been a long time coming, but only two more days to wait. :-)

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  17. Memories ... as children we too built a bonfire and dressed a 'guy', purchased crackers and sparklers [keeping some aside for New Year's eve], and ate black treacle toffee. Later the town put on a bonfire and we sat way back and didn't feel any of the warmth from the fire, but the fireworks display almost made up for that.
    Later again I remember hedges going on fire as sky rockets landed 'elsewhere' and some unsupervised children put crackers into mail boxes that were at the gate. Later again bonfires were frowned upon, Guy Fawkes night became 'politically incorrect', and now in Australia it is simply too dangerous to have a bonfire at this time of year. The good old days were much more fun!

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    1. This is really fascinating to read, as it shows just how many customs from the old country Australian migrants took with them (right down to making a guy) and how Australian culture has gradually changed and developed. I'm glad you have those enjoyable memories, but find it very sad that nowadays it's too dangerous to have bonfires in November, given that it's still spring and the real heat of summer is yet to come. No exciting memories for today's youngsters. We were lucky to grow up when we did. :-)
      .....`

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  18. Best wishes for your upcoming op:)

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  19. You have certainly evoked some memories with this one P. My north London bonfire night sounds pretty similar to yours, although I don't ever recall being trusted to choose the fireworks. dad would always have that responsibility. One of the things I remember is always trying to round up the cat before our little display, and the neighbours bonfires were lit. I'll be thinking about you on the 5th. J.

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    1. Rather like your wonderful Woolworth's post, Janice. There are some areas of experience where you just have to press the button and we all have our own memories to share. I think we were trusted to buy the fireworks as our parents knew we would keep the rules about bangers and such and anyway the shopkeepers would never have sold us things they knew our parents wouldn't approve of. :-) We too had to make sure the cats, and later the dog, were safely indoors before the fun began.

      Thanks for the thoughts.

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  20. Lots of memories here too Perpetua. We used to help build a huge bonfire at the end of our road on some waste ground, along with all the other children in the road. Everyone made guys, and most kids went out begging pennies, but like your mother, ours would never allow us to do so. Everyone in the road contributed fireworks, and all the Dads took responsibility for lighting them. All the mums provided food. Even though we lived on a council estate, which these days are quite impersonal places, there was much more community spirit in those days. Great fun. Thanks for the reminder. And good luck with the op xx

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    1. I love your memories of your childhood bonfires, Ayak. That's what I remember from when I was very young and still lived in town - a big bonfire on waste ground and a few fireworks in our back yard as well. We lived in a row of small terraced houses in a cotton town, but there was still plenty of community spirit. However we moved to the country before I was 7, so most of my memories are of the two bonfires as described above. We knew our neighbours and they knew us and we all celebrated together. Happy days. :-)

      Thanks for the good wishes.

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  21. You've made me feel all nostalgic for home and childhood.... Bonfore night is one of my favourites in my "memory data bank," too. Potoatoes roasted in the fire, and the town council's age-old tradition of setting light to the entire crate of fireworks and putting a premature end to a fireworks display that hadn't even begun... Those were the days :-D
    Thinking of you for tomorrow, big hugs xx

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    1. Bonfire Night does that, I'm afraid, MM. It was so quintessentially a part of most British childhoods in the past, though I think it's possibly being overshadowed a bit by the current craze for Halloween. I love the story of your town tradition of firework inefficiency. There were no displays anywhere near us back then, so we were totally responsible for setting off our own fireworks prematurely. :-)

      Thanks for the hugs. Not long now.....

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  22. We lived very close to our local park, where the boy scouts would stage their bonfire and fireworks display, so we went there instead of having any at home - which was probably for the best as I don't think we would have been able to afford much at all. They always gave us sparklers when we got there, which I loved. When our daughters were small, we made a great thing about Bonfire Night, but these days they're content to watch the strays from the bedroom window - how sad is that! I think I shall take myself off to a big display and re-live memories.

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    1. How great to have all those hard-working scouts building the bonfire, Anny. It must have been really spectacular. I know fireworks are very expensive nowadays, but they were still relatively cheap when I was a child in the 50s and we could get a good selection including sparklers for 4 with what we were allowed. I'm glad your daughters had the Bonfire Night experience, even if they're far too grown-up and cool to bother about it now. Just wait til they have their own families. :-) Enjoy your display if you find one.

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  23. What a wonderful nostalgic piece, beautifully written! Goodness, you take me straight back to childhood bonfire nights. We had an enormous communal bonfire beside the village loch, and the entire village seemed to turn up to enjoy it, with baked tatties and toffee apples and a grand firework display set off from the side of the hill once everyone's cheeks were nicely toasted by the fire.
    What strikes me reading your description is how cheerfully oblivious we all were to 'health & safety' in days past. We were trusted - shock horror - to use our own common sense! My boys get sparklers at home and then we are lucky enough to be invited to a big bonfire party run by friends - again, it has become a community event, raising money for charity. Nothing like a bit of pagan fire to drive the cold winter away. ;)

    Very best wishes for tomorrow - I'll be thinking of you.

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    1. Thanks for the good wishes and kind words, DB. I'm so glad you enjoyed it. I think such memories strike a lot of chords with those of us who were young when Bonfire Night was still in its heyday. Your village bonfire sounds like a wonderful experience and I'm pleased to hear that your sons are sharing in the same enjoyment despite the changes wrought by time and different attitudes.

      You're not the first to comment on the lack of 'health and safety' back then. Of course ensuring that people are safe is a good thing, but it does seem to me that over-regulation can tend to sap spontaneity and even self-reliance and a proper sense of responsibility. Our parents taught us to be careful and then trusted us to be so. Sometimes we weren't and I still have a few scars to prove it. :-)

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  24. A wonderful post Perpetua, bringing back memories of our almost identical Guy Fawkes nights here in Australia. Making the guy, stocking up on the pretty fireworks, while my brothers liked bungers and bangers and sky rockets! Of course 5th November is a dry and hot season here, and eventually Guy Fawkes night was legislated out of existence - too many fires got away! We can't buy the fireworks now, and see them only in licensed public displays. And I feel cheated now: we were never given toffee!!! Deprived! Thoughts and prayers with you for today's op. - hope it goes perfectly.

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    1. Patricia, I love the fact that on opposite sides of the world you and I had such similar experiences of Bonfire Night, back in the days before it became so organised. I can understand completely why bonfires had top be banned. You have enough problems with wildfires, without bonfires adding to them. But it's a shame you can't even buy fireworks either. What did you eat if you didn't have toffee? Treacle toffee was such an essential part of the proceedings for our family at least.

      Thanks for the prayers and good wishes which appear to have worked, though it's still early days.

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  25. Sending positive thoughts your way for your operation tomorrow. See you on the other side.

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    1. Thanks, Vic, much appreciated. All seems well so far, I'm glad to say.

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  26. Such a wonderful description - evokes sensations, smells, tastes, sounds and sights of childhood. Thank you for sharing.

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    1. Thanks so much for the kind words, Catriona. I'm glad you enjoyed it so much, as I loved reliving the memories to write it.

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  27. It's a shame trick or treating has taken over from bonfire night. Hope your op went smoothly.

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    1. My sentiments exactly. I simply don't remember Halloween featuring in my childhood at all and now it's huge. The op went well, thanks, though the result takes some getting used to. :-)

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  28. I'm hoping that as I am writing this comment you are safely at home and recovering from your cataract surgery, Perpetua. When you get to reading this (won't that be grand) you will learn of how much I enjoyed this heartwarming memory of your childhood and Guy Fawkes Night.
    Prayers are coming your way, Perpetua.

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    1. By the time you wrote that I'd been asleep for 2 hours after an extremely long and tiring day, Penny. Now the eye shield has been removed by the doctor I can get my glasses back on and answer comments and I'm pleased you enjoyed the post so much. Bonfire Night was a really big thing when I was young and it's lovely to recall the fun we had.

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I welcome your comments and will always try to respond to them. Thank you for reading.