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October 31, 2011 at 22:56
Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations : Monday November 5th 2012
Bonfire Night, or Guy Fawkes night, is most vigorously celebrated in the usually peaceful county town of Lewes (pronounced “lu – is”), East Sussex, every year on November 5th, and is known as the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations or Lewes Bonfire Night and is the biggest bonfire night celebration in the Uk. This year it will be on Monday November 5th 2012.
If you are thinking of driving in, I would forget it unless you get here very early as all the car parks and street parking in the town fill up early. There are road closures around all the routes into Lewes starting from about 2pm, and the main procession routes are all out of bounds for car parking. Your best bet is to use the either the Bus or Rail Service.
Wrap up warm in old waterproof clothes, bring money for the charity collection boxes and be prepared for long waits, heavy crowds, loud noise and lots of smoke. It is not suitable for very young children especially those in pushchairs, the frail or if you have breathing problems. Some pubs in the town are ticket only and all of them will be heaving and there are limited toilet facilities and food vendors.
For further details of each individual bonfire society procession routes, timings, tickets and firesite, see bonfire societies here . Be warned as well, that all but one bonfire society fire site are now ticket only events, dont just turn up hoping to get in, purchase your tickets in advance. No Ticket No Entry. See also the advice given by Lewes District Council Here. Or by the Lewes Bonfire Council Here. There is also a downloadable advice leaflet by the Lewes Bonfire Council Here.
See You On The Fifth. Stay Safe And Enjoy. Lest We Forget .
Click On Above Map For Enlargement.
There will be around 25 – 30 visiting bonfire societies, numerous marching bands of which I was a player in one, the visiting bonfire societies and bands will be spread across the six Lewes Bonfire Societies having their own Bonfire Night Celebrations on the 5th November in Lewes, all in a well choreographed manner!
There are 30 plus processions during the bonfire celebrations, intermingling with each other through the narrow streets of Lewes with the Bonfire Night Celebrations starting around 5.00 pm and finishing about 1am, each Bonfire Society will have their own routes, except the grand which is around 9pm when most of the Lewes Bonfire Societies will join up and march back through the town which can take an hour to pass, and then they will follow their own routes, traditions, costumes, bonfire, fireworks, tableaux, and set pieces to their own fire sites.
I like to think there is just a friendly rivalry between the Lewes Bonfire Societies but it goes a little bit deeper than that, there is at times some mild bigotry between some of its members towards other Lewes Bonfire Societies, a good thing in my mind as it helps to keep the spirit of the bonfire alive, generally they will all help each other. and it is a topic that would take up a whole website and would not be 100% accurate as some of the history has been lost in the midst of time.
Evolving mainly from the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (Guido Fawkes) and the Seventeen Martyrs burnt at the stake in Lewes, during the period 1555 – 1557, hence the seventeen burning crosses, the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations are now one of the most well known and talked about traditions within the UK, attracting tens of thousands of visitors each year.
The Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations has never been for the General Public’s benefit and never will be, it is solely for the members of each and every Lewes Bonfire Society, all the planning, preparations, costumes, etc is provided and paid for by themselves, and fund raising is held throughout the year to help pay for the firework display, torches, insurance, etc.
Input from the Lewes Bonfire Council, Authorities and Emergency services exists mainly for the safety of the public due to the sheer numbers that turn up to watch, all the Lewes bonfire societies have a close if sometimes strained working relationship with the Authorities and Services to ensure that the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations goes off with a bang ! , more than Guy Fawkes achieved !
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody” . . . Thomas Paine
The Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations on Saturday November 5th 2011, will not be a personal dig at groups or individuals as such, despite what you may see at the fire site, paraded around the town or one of the many media circus versions, it is the bad act that is important to us and it simply serves as a reminder that we now have a freedom of choice and speech at a cost to believers lives, (martyrs, soldiers etc), which was and still is denied to many people across the globe.
On the Lewes war memorial there are recorded approximately 235 names of the fallen during World War I and approximately 129 names that fell during World War II. Everybody today who lives in Lewes and walks about unhindered owes a debt to all those brave young brothers, sons, husbands and fathers.
And yes, representations of recent figures or events have been blown up in Lewes, this is done to highlight a problem or a grievance that the common man has with the powers to be, sometimes it is actually a person, but that person/s would have had to have done something really distasteful like trying to stop the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations, leaking out the contents of a Tableau or misbehaving in a anti social manner.
No one gets hurt (except for their ego), nor is it the intention of anyone to hurt anybody on Saturday November 5th 2011, if the freedom of speech is curtailed then we will be on a slippery road back to 1605, and when we get there you can be sure that the 20/36 barrels of gunpowder will be replaced with something more akin to 20/36 nuclear warheads!, Religion, Politics, Money, The Bomb. Has man actually matured enough to be responsible for those yet?
So come along if you wish, but you do not have an invite and therefore you will be gatecrashing our celebrations, and remember “Volenti Non Fit Injuria”
Follow Me
A Wealth Of Historical Lewes Bonfire Information
Within the pages of this Lewes Bonfire Celebrations website you will find a wealth of information, history and theories. I have tried to be as accurate as my knowledge allows me to be.
There should be something for everybody within this site, whether as a spectator, bonfire boye/belle, history or just simply interested in the Lewes Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes celebrations. I am constantly adding bits and pieces as I find or think of them.
Sometimes it may seem that I am rambling! . . Perhaps I am, I like to think that this site is alive with unpredictable anecdotes, facts and pictures to liven things up. But it is all relevant to the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebration history.
If you do not like what you see or read please close the site as you would close a book or switching a tv off, I do not like scary clowns or reality tv so I avoid them ..."Simples",
For those of you that want to shoot your mouth off or disagree with some of the elements of the Lewes Bonfire Celebrations, please go through the pages within this site, and absorb the facts before passing any judgements.
Any views stated within the pages are mine and mine alone.
Sussex By The Sea
Now is the time for marching
Now let your hearts be gay
Hark to the merry bugles
Sounding along our way
My Heart's In The Bonfire
Warm Welcome to Lewes, Farewell to elsewheres,
The birth-place of Bonfire,The small town that dares;
Wherever I wander, Wherever I rove,
The hills of the Bonfire for ever I love.
Bonfire Prayers
Remember, remember the Fifth of November
The Gunpowder Treason and plot,
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Fun Facts
A selection of fun facts surrounding the Lewes Bonfire Night Celebrations.
