News
Welcome our monthly meetings are held on mondays at 8pm at the Hailsham Memorial Institute in Western Road. If you want to help or join the society, please come along. Click membership for more details.
This years Bonfire Celebrations will be held on 20th October 2012 at Hailsham Town Centre 7.30pm - Midnight
If you're interested in helping or joining the society please come along. Just let them know you're there for the Bonfire Meeting and they will let you in.
Fancy dress prizes
Grand torch light procession
Marching bands
Spectacular firework display
Surprise set piece as finale
Visting societies
This year we will be collecting money for:
Sussex Search and Rescue
Samuel’s Childrens Charity
St John Ambulancetop of page
2011 Bonfire dates
2012 confirmed dates have the year adjascent to the date. Events HBS are attending are shown in red TBC for 2012
3rd September |
Uckfield |
10th September |
Crowborough |
17th September |
Mayfield |
24th September |
Burgess Hill |
1st October |
Rotherfield |
8th October |
Eastbourne |
15th October |
Hastings |
20th October 2012 |
Hailsham |
22nd October |
Fletching |
22nd October |
Seaford |
22nd October |
Neville (juvenile) |
27th October 2012 |
Littlehampton |
29th October |
Newick |
4th November |
Isfield |
5th November |
Lewes |
5th November |
Battle |
5th November |
Shoreham |
5th November |
Lindfield |
12th November |
East Hoathly |
12th November |
Chailey |
12th November |
Winchelsea |
12th November |
Rye |
12th November |
South Heighton |
19th November |
Barcombe |
19th November |
Robertsbridge |
3rd December |
Alfriston Dickensian Evening |
4th December |
Sussex Bonfire Carol Service |
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Fund raising event dates
BINGO NIGHTS Many thanks to Rose, Lynn and Ian who keep our bingo nights running on a monthly basis. These are an important fundraiser for the society and raises over £1000 each year. The bingo team are always grateful for any additional help so please contact any of them if you are able to lend a hand. Bingo dates for 2012 are::
Friday 16th March
Friday 20th April
Friday 18th May
Friday 15th June
Friday 20th July
17th August
21st September
19th October
16th November
Bingo Nights are held in the Charles Hunt Centre
Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.
31st March Jumble Sale
– the first of our two jumble sales to be held in the Charles Hunt Centre. Please come along and assist and canvas all friends and family for any jumble.
12th May Bus Tour
– Our infamous bus tour hits the road for 2012...tickets will be on sale soon!
2nd June Sussex Bonfire Tug of War Championship
– HBS will be staging this event at Isfield, we need a team of 6 to pull on our behalf... any volunteers?
Hailsham Jubilee Fair
– We are running a stall at this event to be held on the Rec'.
8th June Battle of the Brains Quiz Night
– To be held in the Charles Hunt Centre, teams of up to 6 entry fee is £6 per head including a ploughman’s supper.
9th June Hailsham Charter Market
– HBS will be running a cake stall at this event, cakes and volunteers to man the stall needed.
17th June Waterloo Bonfire Society Summer Fair
– more details to follow.
30th June Battle Fair
– we will be running a stall at the Battle Carnival and Summer Fair.
19th August Sponsored Walk
– get your walking boots on and join us for a 10 mile stroll, details to follow
25th August Tombola
– Tesco Hailsham have allowed us to run a tombola in the foyer.
22nd September Jumble Sale
– the second of our two jumble sales to be held in the Charles Hunt
Centre.
??? September Bag Pack
– Tesco Hailsham have allowed us to carry out a bag pack (in costume)
Committee Meeting dates for 2011
The new Committee will be holding committee meetings on the following dates:
2nd April 3rd September
14th May 1st October
11th June 8th October
2nd July 15th October
6th August 12th November
3rd December
All Committee meetings are held in the
back room of the HMI and start at 8pm.
Our new Captain of Torches invites you all to join him for torch making every Sunday morning starting 1st April. Torch making takes place at the yard and starts at 10:00.
Money in the collection pot!
We start 2012 with just over £2000 in the collection pot. Annually we need at least £7000 to stage our annual event and support all society events so please assist whenever and wherever you can to help raise the additional £5000 we need this year.
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Hailsham Bonfire Society history
After a 16 year gap Hailsham Bonfire Society was reformed, and on the 400th anniversary of the gunpowder plot, 1605 - 2005, Hailsham Bonfire Society triumphantly rose from the ashes.
We reformed in the new year 2005 and with a lot of hard work we managed to have a small torchlit procession and firework display on November the 5th 2005.
We have successfully continued with our celebrations each year since, and the event has been well supported by both the general public and visiting societies.
The procession and firework display for 2010, held on Saturday 16th October, were a great success and greatly enjoyed by both the general public and the visiting societies.
A sum of £905.60 was raised from the street collections for our selected charities.
We would like to thank all those that supported the event and kindly made donations as well as the visiting societies for joining us.
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Membership details
HAILSHAM BONFIRE SOCIETY NEEDS YOU...YES YOU!!!
WANT TO JOIN?
UNSURE?
WHY NOT COME ALONG AND MEET US AT ANY OF OUR MONTHLY COMMITTEE MEETINGS OR ONE OF OUR FUNDRAISING EVENTS? ALTERNATIVELY RING IAN ON 01323 441514 OR E-MAIL YOUR DETAILS TO hailshambonfire@aol.com FOR AN APPLICATION FORM.
YOU'LL BE SURE OF A FRIENDLY WELCOME!
2011 MEMBERSHIP FEES
Adult Membership £10
Childs Membership £5
Family Membership £20 (Up to 2 adults and unlimited children)
Committee meetings held on the first Monday of each month at the
Hailsham Memorial Institute from 8pm
Pop by and say hello!
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Q&A's
Q. WHAT IS A BONFIRE SOCIETY?
A. A Bonfire Society celebrates the downfall of Guy Fawkes and his plot to blow up Parliament and King James 1st on November the 5th 1605.
This celebration has been held all across the country for centuries, although it has died out a lot over the years it still remains a well loved one here. In Sussex, there are over 35 bonfire societies in the county and more than half of them hold their own celebration during the bonfire season ( from September to the end of November).
Up until the 1960s it was illegal not to celebrate Bonfire night!
Q. WHY DO YOU HAVE A BONFIRE AND FIRE WORKS?
A. The fire is for burning an effigy of Guy Fawkes. The bonfire came about during the plot to blow up Parliament, if Guy Fawkes had succeeded, his conspirators were to light bonfires all over the country to symbolize the death of the King.
Fireworks are used to symbolize the blowing up of Parliament as they contain gunpowder.
Q. IF I JOIN THE BONFIRE SOCIETY WHAT WILL I HAVE TO DO?
A. When you join you will be given a membership card, badge and details of the costumes. We hope that you will be able to help at different events e.g. fund raising, torch making, placing posters etc. You may be able to get us sacking or sticks for torch making. or you may be able to make cakes or donate raffle prizes or money to buy them.
We do need more manpower to take on the various jobs required to hold the celebrations each year, otherwise we may be at risk of not being able to continue.
It's good fun all through the year, so why not come along to our monthly meetings held at the Hailsham Memorial Institute (HMI) on the first Monday of every month at 8:00 PM. Just let the staff know that you have come to the bonfire meeting.
Hope to see you there! For more information ring either our membership secretary Lynn on 01323 441514 or Rose, our secretary, on 01323 849562.
Q. WHY DO YOU HAVE COSTUMES?
A. The costume adds to the celebration, making it more enjoyable for the public watching. All the societies have a different costume of their choosing , our choice being the Victorian era as well as our black and grey striped smugglers costume.
( All societies have a different colour smugglers jumper.)
Click HERE to go to Mayfield Bonfire Boyes site to see them.
The smugglers costume is a great costume to start off with, it is cheap to make and will last a long time. Many people go for this option as they don’t like to dress up that much.
You can choose to dress up as a Victorian from any class, from the poor house to royalty. This is a popular choice.
Q. WHERE DOES THE MONEY COME FROM FOR THE BONFIRE CELEBRATIONS?
A. The bonfire society raise the money for the celebrations from the many fund raising events held throughout the year. Raffles, Tombolas, Bingo nights, Sponsored walks, Race nights, Quiz nights and many other events including stalls in the charter market and at boot fairs etc. We fund the whole event by ourselves.
Q. WHY DON’T YOU HAVE YOUR BONFIRE NIGHT ON THE 5TH OF NOVEMBER?
A. As there are so many Bonfire Societies in Sussex, celebrations are spread out over what is known as the Bonfire Season. This is from the first Saturday in September to the end of November. This is done to try to ensure each Bonfire Society can visit other societies celebrations. We hold our celebration on the third Saturday in October.
Q. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO JOIN THE BONFIRE SOCIETY?
A. £10 for Adults ~ £5 Junior ~ £20 Family (1 or 2 Adults unlimited children)
Q. DO HAILSHAM BONFIRE SOCIETY GO TO OTHER BONFIRE SOCIETIES CELEBRATIONS?
A. Yes we do! See the full diary for this years events.
HAILSHAM BONFIRE SOCIETY Commitee Officers 2011
Honorary President |
Stella Henstock |
Honorary Vice President |
Geoff Rowe |
Honorary Chairperson |
Rose Piggott |
Honorary Vice Chairperson |
Mike Farley |
Honorary Secretary |
Lynn Broderick |
Honorary Treasurer |
Sharon Cottingham |
Membership Secretary |
Ian Broderick |
Fundraising Secretary |
Committee |
Safety Officer |
Ian Moon |
Press and Publicity Officer |
Mike Farley |
Commander in Chief |
Ian Moon |
Captain of Torches |
Ashley Mardlin |
Captain of Fireworks |
Guy Osborne |
Captain of Set Piece |
Guy Osborne |
Captain of Fire Site |
David Cottingham |
Captain of Collections |
Roz Paine |
Captain of Programmes |
Lucy Hamilton |
Captain of Website |
Nick Allen |
Many thanks to all those who served on the committee for 2011 and putting HBS in a strong position to go forward into 2012!
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Galleries
Click on the title to go to the gallery.
If you have taken some photos of the HBS and would like them linked to from our web site. put them in a gallery online and send us the link. You can use Facebook, Flickr, Jalbum or any hosting service including your own server.
We can also include video links from YouTube or any video hosting service.
Hailsham bonfire site fireworks video 2011
HAILSHAM BONFIRE SOCIETY Sponsors for 2011
RENTAL & RELAY LTD22, HIGH STREET |
Hailsham Cellars9, HIGH STREET |
B.A. Mitchell & SonsBONFIRE BURGERS & BALLOONS - OUTSIDE CATERING & AMUSEMENTS Glow goodies & Refreshments TEL 07860 715504 |
FALCON STOVES & LINERSINSTALLATION |
HAILSHAM TOWN COUNCILINGLENOOK |
|
CLOCKHOUSE TROPHIESSUPPLIERS OF TROPHIES, CUPS, MEDALS & SHIELDS |
THE PUMPKIN PATCHFOR ALL YOUR SEWING & KNITTING NEEDS |
|
RENTAL & RELAY LTD22, HIGH STREET |
Links to other bonfire and carnival sites.
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Contact Us
For general enquiries please contact Lynn
Telephone 01323 441514
email hailshambonfire@aol.com
For membership enquiries please contact Ian
Telephone 01323 441514
email hailshambonfire@aol.com
For press and publicity enquiries please contact Mike;
Telephone 01273 510753
email mj.farley@sky.com
For enquiries regarding this website please contact Mike;
Telephone 01273 510753
email mj.farley@sky.com