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Guy Fawkes Night.....Memories

davpen

davpen

EX Pat. The Penguin
What are your special memories of Guy Fawkes night?
For me it was buying the fireworks over time and storing them a shoe box...(Wilders..Standard.etc) Such anticipation.
Mum would aquire one of dads old suits and we would make the GUY....
We would collect anything burnable for weeks for the fire..(not sustainable now *s*}
The big night would arrive.....Several familys would get together.
Mum would make spuds in jackets....Dad would tend the fire......Your front would roast and your back shiver and the next morning we would search for spent rocket cases as the smoke still hung around in the air......
What wonderful memories..
 
The one I remember the most was finding Tibby my cat dead at the bottom of our garden. The photo is of myself and Tibby. My dad repaired watches in a shed at the bottom of our garden and he had a tiny wood burner for the winter. He used to bake potatoes and chestnuts on bonfire night and we always had a bonfire and fireworks. Mom worked for Mr Horsely bundling firewood and he always gave us some for our special night. I too remember getting toasted myself and my back being like ice. Jean.
 
My memories are of us spending hours collecting wood for our bonfire in Nechells. The kids from all over would join together in this mamouth task. We would have it in the park opposite the flats in Duddeston Manor Rd
Amanda
 
when in junior school we always painted pictures of bonfire night with golden roman candles, sparklers, rockets and we always made a guy my dear old dad always lost some treasured piece of old clothing, and it paid off if it was good you could earn 2bob. enough for a plethera of fireworks, my dad always gave the guy a "Hitler" face, we dragged it round on old pram wheels up hill and down dale, we always had baked spuds in the fire and sometimes sausages. golden days now lost in the mist's of time and will be shelved altogether if the "elf and safty gestapo" get there way.
 
Jean, sorry to hear your story.
When we lived in Tyburn Road we had a driveway running at the back of the houses and we used to have our bonfire there thus blocking the drive! No-one seemed to mind though. Later in life when I lived in Knowle and my kids were about 8 and 9 we had friends with similar age kids. Me and my mate would be fiddling with the fire and setting off the fireworks while all 4 kids played in the house oblivious to what was going on!!!
Still us Dads had a great time!
 
We used to make toffee apples and baked potatoes. I loved sparklers but not Bengal matches, and my brother used to put bangers and jumping-jacks under the metal dustbin lid
A friend lit a banger and didn't let go in time, he damaged his hand badly........not so much fun after that.
 
Lived in Brearley Street Handsworth as a kid and always had our wonderful bonfires with the Phipps' who owned the corner shop on Booth Street. Mr Phipps always lit the bonfire as our dad was dead their children David and Lynn were there too. One year a spark got into the box of fireworks and the lot went up it was spectacular, happy wonderful memories of very special friends and neighbours.
 
Paul, I went over the top because we don't have a bonfire these days and I can taste the baked taters whenever I think about fireworks.
 
Thanks Stitcher those boxes bring back lovely memories of the nights we had in our back garden at Holte road. Jean.
 
Yes Paul...Stitcher was very into the memories there!
Talking of which i remember leaving the more expensive ones till last before lighting the blue touch paper and retiring.....They would have been Calling all cars..Jack in the box.....Standards super sonic bang.....One i do recall was called The Rising Sun that lit the back garden up like daylight.....Aeroplanes were fun because you were never sure which way they would go.
 
G G Jean said:
The one I remember the most was finding Tibby my cat dead at the bottom of our garden. The photo is of myself and Tibby. My dad repaired watches in a shed at the bottom of our garden and he had a tiny wood burner for the winter. He used to bake potatoes and chestnuts on bonfire night and we always had a bonfire and fireworks. Mom worked for Mr Horsely bundling firewood and he always gave us some for our special night. I too remember getting toasted myself and my back being like ice. Jean.
Click to expand...
Jean that's so sad,we lived in a big yard and everybody joined in we had a huge fire,one year my mom managed to get us a very large box of fireworks,my big brother was in charge,he lit the first one a jumping jack,but it would seem the lid had not been put
on the box properly,one spark the whole lot went of it didn't last very long but it was a lovely display,and nobody was hurt
 
I can't open that link but I take it to be about Standards fireworks which I remember very well.
 
We used to start collecting wood for the bonfire weeks before bonfire night and store it in the right of way (gully) at the back of our house, nothing was safe if it was left out. We even found someone's car mats hanging on their fence so into the pile of wood they went, the owner of the mats, who had just left them to dry, came searching for them a couple of hours later and much to our disgust took them back. My best mates Father new someone who worked at Perry Hall playing fields, where all the tree pruning's were stored, so we always ended up with a couple of lorry loads of wood for the bonfire. One year a stray spark set light to the box of fireworks stored in my mates garage, we lost all the fireworks and almost lost his Fathers garage.
 
I lived in Watney Grove just off College Road Kingstanding. Me and the other kids would collect timber for weeks before Bonfire Night and build a fire on the centre of the Island in the middle of the grove. They would end up 20 feet tall or even higher. I remember,
a) Mom and other adults making baked potatoes
b) The grove and College Road so full of smoke we could hardly see !
c) Taking mini rockets and rather than attaching the launcher to a post we would hold it in our hands and fire them at the College Arms Pub over the road, even got one through the Bar Door one day.
d) climbing to the top of one bonfire and falling off (must have been 25feet tall)
e) Holding bangers in our had when they went off (Holding the very end)
f) Buying Cannons and binding them with selotape so they were even more powerful !

Amazing I made it to adult hood in some ways !
 
Thanks, everyone, for bringing back Bonfire Night memories (good and bad). We used to accumulate fireworks for several weeks before the "big night", and I loved just looking at them. I can remember wheeling a guy around in a cart, begging "Penny for the guy, mister?" Then the "big night" itself: we usually went to a community bonfire somewhere, thrilled to the spectacle of the fireworks, and relished the baked potato or sausage on a bread roll (and probably Bournville cocoa). The year I turned 13 (1962) disaster struck. Some "bad lads" were letting off sky rockets along the ground, and one hit the shoulder of a man standing next to me and rebounded into my eye! Instant agony and two weeks in the Eye Hospital: no long-term effects though.

After we emigrated to Australia in 1964, "Bonfire Night" became "Cracker Night" and was on the Queen's "birthday" in June, not 5 November. Nowadays it's all very tightly (and probably rightly) controlled, and huge professional fireworks displays are usual on occasions of special celebration. But I can still feel the thrill of Bonfire Night in Birmingham and Sutton all those years ago.
 
One of the best memories i have of Guy Fawkes(Bonfire) night was in 1963 .our School All Saints Hockley held the biggest bonfire in the area we had spuds hot from the fire and they treated every child to a box of ( Bingle/Bingel )matches..the teachers were brilliant that night
 
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