Bonfire Captain's Report 2009

Hello and welcome to my first Bonfire Captain’s report. A report I wasn’t expecting to write just yet due to our Bonfire Captain’s sudden death last year on November 5th, who was also my father. He sadly passed away in the early hours of the ‘Fifth’. This made a long day even longer for some of us.

As you can understand it has been a hard year for me, my family and the bonfire society. I would like to thank the bonfire society, the Sussex Bonfire community, friends, family and members of the public for all their support during that difficult period. It is fair to say that that we gave him a terrific send off at his funeral. It was great to see so many Sussex bonfire societies and their banners there on the day. Also his friends from Burgess Hill Motorcycle club and others from the motorcycling world who escorted him through the Sussex countryside on his final journey as motorcycling was his other great passion. Also a big thank you to Sussex Police for their help and co-operation on the day and turning a blind eye to the fireworks going off in the High Street. I would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to members of the public on the day of his funeral, which must have been one of the biggest the village has ever seen.

It has been tough this year organising the firework display for me & my brother without the input of our father. Who had been Bonfire Captain for nearly ten years and who had been involved with the bonfire society for over 20 years. Hopefully with what we have learnt of our father we can continue to give you an excellent display on the ‘Fifth’ for years to come. A big thanks to our mother who has continued to back and support us both in the absence of our father.

Also this year see’s the tenth anniversary of the death of one of a previous bonfire captains Geoff Honeysett. Who was much loved and is still sorely missed. Without the expertise of these two men I’m sure the bonfire society would not be here today. So this year’s display will dedicated to ‘Geoff and Kim’, watch out for the special set piece during the display in their memory.

I would also like to mention my brother Darren, for all his hard work this year and in previous year’s. As I feel he doesn’t get the credit he deserves for the amount of time and effort he puts into the bonfire society. He has done an excellent job of our new newsletter this year and in communicating with our members to keep then up to date with what is happening. So thanks Darren.

Onto happy things. We have been busy with various fund raising events this year. We’ve had coffee mornings, Village Day, outside firework display, a Barn Dance, Craft Fair and a stall at Bolnore Village Fete. All of which helped us raise some of the funds needed to put our night on. We also gained first place for our float on Village Day.

We’re still looking for helpers for the day and evening on bonfire night. Especially collectors to help with the charity collection. We realise that the collection will be down this year due to the current economical climate, but please give what you can. If you feel you can help out on the day there will be a meeting in the King Edward Hall on Thursday 15th October at 7.30pm.

So it leaves me to say have a safe and enjoyable bonfire night, let’s hope it’s a good one.

Phil Lucas Bonfire Captain

Chairmans Report 2008

2007 saw another spectacular firework display on bonfire night and this was again a credit to all the hard work put in by the bonfire boys & girls and all our helpers. We have again found an increasing demand for our society’s expertise in providing displays for private functions and we would welcome any enquiries for weddings, birthday parties & the like.

As with many things that we all do, there are increasing pressures for regulation and I believe that we are coping well with these requirements. However, it does put increased pressure on our member’s workload and I would like to appeal to anyone who feels that they might be able to offer help in any way. This could be anything from helping on our Village Day stall to preparing procession floats or marshalling of events. Perhaps you could help on the admin side, the preparation of this program for example.

Although we have worked hard to raise funds for this current year, there is an ongoing need for donations or fund raising ideas and assistance.

If you think you might be able to help in any way, please contact me on 01444 487722 or our Secretary, Wendy Box on 01444 482809.

This year, we have been involved in seminars and meetings involving the police and all emergency services on an initiative for proposed Safety Advisory Groups and by the time you read this it is likely that we will had to substantially review such things as the marshalling and control of the bonfire display and procession. I would therefore ask for your co-operation if you are attending, to comply with instructions from our marshals in all things which we have been made responsible for, such as crowd control and direction of traffic.

We have been reminded by the police that IT IS ILLEGAL for persons under the age of 18 to posse’s fireworks (which includes sparklers) and they will arrest people who set fireworks off in a public place.

Please help us to maintain the good order which has been a credit to our processions and displays in the past and enjoy yourselves on the night.

THE MONEY WE COLLECT ON 5TH NOVEMBER GOES TO LOCAL CHILDREN’S CHARITIES. PLEASE GIVE GENEROUSLY ON THE DAY.

Colin Vinall

Chairman

Farm Cottage, Scaynes Hill Road, Walstead RH16 2QQ

Tel: 01444 487722

Bonfire Captains Report 2008

Every year when I sit down to write my report it seems to get harder to think of something to write. But my the Boys & Girls of the Society have had a busy year to date.

Our firework team have had a busy time this year. Four of the team went over to Valencia in March for the ‘Fallas’ festival to pick up some ideas for their display. Personally I think it was just an excuse to get away from the winter blues in the UK and consume as much alcohol as possible. But they did to their credit come back with some good and not so good ideas. Naturally their idea of having a big street display in the High Street didn’t go down to well, but boys will be boys as they say. They also managed to fit in a few private displays, notably Ardingly College & our Presidents daughters wedding. The display that they did over the pond for one of our supporters was also very well received. So their skills should be finely tuned for the display on the ‘Fifth’. As always they want to go one better than last year.

The fund raising side of things has gone pretty well this year. With our outside displays, a Barn Dance & Village Day bringing in a healthy amount of funds to help us put on this year’s show. Village Day in particular was a great success.

The China Smash is always a winner when it comes to letting of stress. We also won first prize for our War Memorial float to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the end of World War one. Which had the names of the Villagers of Lindfield who gave their lives for our freedom. Again this was well received and generated a lot of interest from people on the day.

Sadly earlier on this year we lost one of our life members, Mr W. Foster Ogg who was a much liked member of the society. Although I didn’t personally know him, I know many of our older members & residents of the village did and the news was met with much sadness.

On a final note I would like to thank Alison, Max, Roy & Andrew for all their hard work and support on the night and through the year. Its much appreciated. Also to our new programme team, although only youngsters compared to the rest of us they’ve done a fantastic job.

So it just leaves me to say have a happy, safe & enjoyable ‘Fifth’.

Kim Lucas

Bonfire Captain