Redhill Bonfire 2007

So last night we decided to go and see the "Massive Bonfire & Fireworks +Huge Funfair" opposite Redhill Aerodrome (in the same fields as the Redhill Steam fair), entrance fee depended on height (over 1.2 meters was £4, under was £2), so there was no pretending your kids were younger than they really were (sneaky, perhaps they should adopt the same pricing model for public transport!)...when we arrived, right in front us of were a large group of people in a panic, searching the bottom of bags for pennies obviously having not realised that they would have to pay to get in...whoops...

- once inside, the funfair did indeed turn out to be proper "+Huge" about 20-30 competition type stalls (win a huge plush scooby doo/goldfish/etc. for only £2 per go)-

- or a small bear in a balloon if you lost -

- about 15 very large rides -




- and about 20 or so kids rides (although I think we need to call the AA out to take a look at this one) ;) -

- loads of the usual sort of refreshment stalls (burger/hot dog/chips) -

- with the usual sort of accompaniments -

- and some very interesting flavoured candy floss (never seen that before!)...

The bonfire was *actually* also as billed, quite massive (although not as big as Brockham bonfire, in my humble opinion) so I don't think the flyer was correct to claim it was the "Biggest bonfire in Surrey", and on the subject of problems with the flyer, I also noticed that while in large letters it proudly proclaimed that the event was "in aid of St Catherine's Hospice", in small print next to it were the words "minimum donation £200"...rather cheeky, I thought...

- it took the organisers rather a long time to actually light the thing too, which was a bad thing, as rather than looking amazingly cool (before being lit) like Brockham, it rather resembled the site of the demolition of about 10 portacabins (white painted doors and window frames were clearly evident) -

- anyway, with plenty of propellant it did finally catch -

- and then proceeded to choke out the entire funfair and shower it with burning ash (as that was the direction of the rather strong wind), so we retreated to watch the Stunt show in the field where the large hill is...it could have been so good, as it was it was just, well, embarrassing really...the woman doing the announcing sounded like she had her foot stuck in a man trap and was being force fed helium and amphetamines (talking absolute nonsense at high speed in a squeaky, panicked voice), the "Stunt Spectacular" show consisted of a fairly distant twelve year old boy taking about ten minutes to start his small motorbike (some way off in the gloom), then doing two very minor jumps off a small ramp (only the second of which we could really see because someone brought a car down and shone it's headlights on it), followed by a man taking ten minutes to put on full leather biker gear (plus helmet) then wrap a small piece of bed sheet around his shoulders moistened by a little petrol (which was then lit), he ran about ten feet and then was fallen upon by the fire extinguisher team (the 12 year old boy), then the man got into a small box, everyone was asked to count down from ten, at which a small burst of flame came out from under the box and the guy inside pushed the sides down and rolled out into the mud (and was once again immediately sprayed by the 12 year old with a fire extinguisher)...very, very peculiar...

Anyway, then the "UK Champion" Firework display team put on what must have been one of their worst ever performances (whole 2-3 second waits between mostly small single fireworks with the occasional ground-based fizzle), and even at one stage a quite large firework that was obviously intended to go off quite high up in the air detonated at ground level! So the champs must have been having a bit of an off day (the fireworks in the distance from South Park football club looked rather more promising, put it that way)...or maybe it's just being spoilt by Brockham (year after year)...




- anyway, it came time to leave (everyone seemed to want to go right away, not bothering to wait for the "Fire diver" show) and we actually got stuck in the mud in the car park (even though we were about the tenth vehicle to leave), so many thanks to the boys of the Surrey Fire Brigade who helped push Colin the camper to safety!