Friends Provident Fireworks 2010

So just a few pictures from our evening out on Guy Fawkes night at the FPLO bonfire (actually, this one was on the way, playing with the settings getting ready for firework shots) -

- after a couple of drinks in the bar awaiting my sister, her husband and Thomas' cousin, we headed across to the playing field to check out the serviceable bonfire (nothing is quite the same after you have seen the one at Brockham) -


- huddling as near as we dared to stay warm -

- and before long the display was underway -




- which Thomas enjoyed very much (much to our relief, as these were his first ever ones)... ;)

Brockham Bonfire 2008

Set your wayback machine for last weekend (okay not so wayback) and join us as, despite the fact that it had been raining really very hard all day, and Flyingpops mum had already called us in the morning to cancel attending (she normally walks along with us), we decided (perhaps unwisely) to go to the Brockham Bonfire...the easiest route for us, as we discovered before, is to drive to Reigate, park the car in Morrisons car park and then pay to get the special bus service (which this year was actually quite a posh coach instead of a broken down semi-retired double decker) -

- it's not actually that far to Brockham from Reigate (about a ten minute drive), so in no time we were trudging through the dark past the odd stalls selling glowing items for draping around one's person and over the river -

- to join the surprisingly (considering the way the weather had been) swolen crowd awaiting the festivities and gorging themselves on the constant stream of burgers and sausages coming out of the bustling kitchens -

- we went and checked out the hog roast, overheard the guys cooking it saying that it was totally burnt, but that they couldn't take the heat shield off it as they feared it would be ruined if it rained (and it was starting to drizzle) -

- so we wandered back away from the grassy area (as it was starting to get extremely muddy and slippery), I slipped a few times trying to get up the little slope away from the hog roast fence and then back onto the road and we made our way up to watch the torchlit procession from a position not far away from the organisers watchtower...and it was here that we spent the next 25 minutes waiting, at one stage we did catch a glimpse of the procession, but we were then told (as the rain continued to build into a proper shower) that because the conditions were so bad in the car park we would have to wait for everyone to park before everything would kick off, so the torches vanished back round the corner again as the rain did it's best to soak everyone through and dampen our enthusiasm...when the final stragglers from the car park did finally manage to drag themselves to the green the procession started up again, the guy was hoisted onto the top of the (increasingly saturated) pile of wood -

- and this time the torch bearers managed to make it all the way to the bonfire (which we were jolly pleased about as we were now completely soaking and getting rather cold, Flyingpops muttering something about "rather being curled up on the sofa in front of X Factor") -

- unfortunately the wood was so wet by this stage that the flames took *forever* to reach the top -

- it was literally another 20 minutes before the bangers started to go off (one or two at a time, not the usual cacophony at all, which was a bit of a let down), during this time we made our way back along the road so the massive amounts of smoke coming off the bonfire wouldn't be in our way of the display -

- and then (thank goodness) the usual having to cheer louder/"I can't hear you!" cycle was broken as on our first (as cheerful as possible in the circumstances) collective yell was answered by the start of the fireworks (making me think the guys controlling it were perhaps getting damp and cold too) -



Shame about the weather, but an excellent display (as usual)...when it all finished we made a mad dash for the buses, got on the first one and then had another mad dash through Reigate from the Red Cross in an absolute cloudburst (couldn't have got any wetter if I had jumped in the bath) and all the way across the car park at Morrisons (as I had stupidly advised Flyingpops to park near the pick-up bus stop rather than the dropping off one)...oh well, maybe we'll remember for next year!

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!

Brockham Bonfire 2007

- Wow, where is this year going? Bonfire night already! Although we went to Brockham to actually celebrate it on Saturday, caught the special service from Dorking town centre, much less busy than the one from Redhill/Reigate direction (as most people going from Dorking walk into the village across the golf course)-

- didn't seem quite as busy this year, but the mood was really upbeat -

- a real party atmosphere, and actually I prefer it not being quite so crushed -

- thank goodness the weather was really clear too, so perfect for the fireworks, and much of the ash from the bonfire just went (largely) straight up, you can watch a short video of the bonfire here if you like -


- and then a snippet of the always excellent firework display, got some quite nice pictures of them too (which was nice, as taking pics of fireworks is always a bit of a hit and miss affair) -






- after this we beat a hasty retreat -

- and so, it seems, did everyone else! Got on the first bus back though... ;)