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 1^st  on November the 5^th 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 and a badge, plus a costume sheet. You can be as involved as much or as little as you want. Some members help with fundraising, some become committee members whilst others just like to come on the many marches during the bonfire season. We also have members that do a bit of everything. All members are welcome to our monthly meeting held in the Hailsham Memorial Institute (MI) on the first Thursday of each month at 8pm.

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 5^TH 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! In 2007 we attended ;

UCKFIELD

CROWBOROUGH

MAYFIELD 

BURGESS HILL

ROTHERFIELD

HASTINGS

LITTLEHAMPTON

BATTLE

LEWES

EAST HOATHLY AND

ROBERTSBRIDGE