Members of Rye Bonfire have been working with local film maker, Peter Hayes, to produce a film For the Love of Fire shot over this year’s Bonfire Pageant, let us know what you think…
And now you’ve seen the film, get the clothing.
Your chance to support us, t-shirt (£20), polo shirt (£25) and hat (£15) in S L and XXXXL are available now only from Adams on Rye High Street – ideal Christmas gift for your bonfire loved one!
The next Rye Bonfire quiz night is on Wednesday, December 7 at the Tudor Room of the Mermaid Inn – 7pm for a 7:30pm start. Teams of up to six, £3 per person with a raffle and nibbles. Please call Ian at Adams on 01797 223136 to book your team in – do come along, it will be a fabulous evening!
Town Salts clear up
Readers may well have noticed that the Salts are still showing signs of the ‘normous bonfire, members of Rye Bonfire Society are waiting for a break in the weather to enable a working party to finally complete clearing the site, the ground is currently just too soft to get a tractor, skip and enable re-seeding.
Image Credits: Caroline Drummond , Rye News library .
I enjoyed the film, thank you, but along with thousands of people I didn’t fully enjoy Rye Fawkes this year because the fireworks were a no-show! Without the spectacular sky show, sadly, the event is only a torchlight parade and a big bonfire. The decision to activate the fireworks in spite of the fog proved a huge error, as thousands of pounds of pyrotechnics were squandered. It means the bonfire societies having to raise a lot of money for next year’s event because the firework setters couldn’t be bothered to disconnect the fireworks. Blaming ‘technical’ reasons for this is simply an excuse. Whatever way you look at it, the fireworks were a failure this year. We cannot afford to let this happen again. The history of the Sussex bonfires dates back to the 16th Century and the Rye Fawkes is the town’s biggest single event. Well done to the societies for continuing this great tradition. However, the ageing profile of bonfire society members and the difficulties in financing the spectacle would appear to indicate systemic challenges for coming years. The £3,700 being charged by RDC for clean-up costs is another blow. Rather than reseeding the grass after each year’s bonfire, it would perhaps be a better idea to install a reusable fireproof surface at the site. At present, towns folk have to put up with an ugly burnt or bare circle for much of the year — and then the newly seeded grass is burnt the following November! It’s illogical.The actual size of the bonfire could perhaps be dialled back a bit to reduce heat damage to the grass.
Agree with Kevin.
One of the best fires for years, but is was very obvious that the thick fog was descending by 9.00 when the fire was finally going. Someone should have made the decision to get the fireworks started; that’s what thousands of people were waiting for! Inexplicably the decision was made to put the display back half an hour until 9.30. By then, inevitably, the fog was at its thickest and the best spectators got, after the lengthy wait, were some loud bangs and a faint glow in the sky!
Please learn for future events. Many Rye people know about weather conditions and how quickly things change.