Bonfire night really has lost its sparkle

WHATEVER has happened to Guy Fawkes Night?

“Remember, remember the fifth of November, gunpowder, treason and plot”. I was brought up to remember this ditty every November 5 when we had our bonfire nights and children would stand on street corners asking for “a penny for the Guy.”

Why have we forgotten all this? Now Guy Fawkes Night is advertised simply as “Fireworks” with no mention of Guy Fawkes and is hardly ever on November 5.

The Yeovil “Fireworks Night” is even being advertised as “30th anniversary” of something. Isn’t it actually the 413th anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 that we are marking with fireworks? Or has all that part of our history and heritage been itself consigned to history, with burning Guys being seen as not “politically correct”?

Perhaps on Monday we should all head off for Lewes, where they still have a proper Guy Fawkes Night and have it on the correct date.

A particularly symmetrical oak tree near Mere,Wiltshire, by Steve Gamblin

Hailes Parish Church, near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire, by Esmond Lane