I know they aren't to everyones taste, but we had such a lovely time tonight. Our two have always been frightened of them, as I was as a child, so the inlaws offered their huge back garden for fireworks as the children could stay way way back. They had a lovely big bonfire in the middle of their lawn, and between the selection of family members who arrived, we had 5 huge boxes of fireworks, sparklers, jacket spuds, sausages in buns, my homemade chicken and pumpkin soup, and hot mugs of tea. We had a lovely evening, the kids really enjoyed the show and by the end of the display, we being very brave and excited. We even discussed the gun powder plot with them so they could understand why we have a bonfire and light fireworks on November 5th. We rounded the evening off by toasting marshmellows over the hot logs and getting sticky.
Just wanted to share.
(http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/Mrsava/sparklers.jpg)
Very dear!!
Keep it to sparklers & I'm happy!
exactly what we used to do, wonderful family times and no harm to anyone else, long may it continue :D
What a beautiful picture EJ, but don't let the HSE gestapo see it, because as harmless as it looks, and I'm sure was, they should have been wearing gloves and goggles!!!! PC gone beresk!!
When I was little we used to have a bonfire party with the neighbours. It was post-WW2 so there was not much by way of fireworks about. I can remember one year it was wet and windy, and grandad was holding his umbrella over my dad so that he could light a rocket in a milkbottle. The next thing he knew it had gone off through his umbrella.
I have never bought a firework for years, but the harmless fun we used to have as children (buying 1d bangers) sticking them in a cowpat and lighting the blue touch paper is very different from the fireworks on sale today.
We live in the village of Alton (as in Towers) and each year they have three nights of fireworks. The thing I liked about the displays was the coloured lights as they cascaded down (going ooh and ahh with the best of them), but nowadays the colours seem to be of secondary importance to the BANGS the fireworks make. We live a good three miles from the park, yet of late the bangs have been so loud they have rattled the ornaments on the shelves in our house.
What I'm trying to say, and probably badly, is that the happy family event EJ describes is a far cry from a firework display. From what I have read of EJ on this site, it was probably more food orientated than firework!!
Some of the fireworks that are on sale now are a very, very far cry from my relatively harmless bangers. They are, not to mince words, powerful explosives. In the wrong hands they can be, and frequently are, lethal.
Sorry, didn't mean to be a damp squib.
valmarg
Not a damp squib at all valmarg. We don't like the bangs and the children hate them. They long for the pretties, alll the lovely colours (how do they do that???), with some crackles and stars for good measure. They wouldn't wear gloves as they were afraid they would catch fire! Little angels.!!
Lovely photos to see, EJ. :) We went for sparklers only which went down a treat.
Valmarg can totally see where you're coming from. Our local pub (which is a geezers only- def no children place) had a board outside last week: Firework Display Saturday: bring your own! The pub's garden is tiny since the previous freeholder sold off a chunk. At least 3 people got hurt. The landlord is still in business, shouting "tossers" out of the window at the neighbours who objected.
What can one do?
Love fireworks!
When myself and siblings were younger my parents always used to do a little firework display in our back garden. I remember legging it up to the bedroom window when the rockets were let off!
We did it a few times for our son when he was growing up but mainly went to our local display in the Town Park. That's where we went last night (with lots of lovely junk food followed by a trip to the movies ;D )
I'm making the most of it, before the barmy army try and put a stop to it with some stupid laws about health and safety, pollution etc etc. >:( :( ;)
For me, fireworks and gardening go together! I remember huddling in my Nan's greenhouse watching my dad light an assortment of firworks which we had no idea what they would actually do, so the greenhouse protection seemed a wise move!
I particularly remember a firework with wings that looked like a little plane that you 'launched', and it inevitably went in the direction you didn't think it would!
We also had a bonfire night gathering of friends and kids, brought our own fireworks, and had a great time! Someone near us had obviously paid a fortune and had a very organised thunderous display non stop for ten minutes just before we started, my OH was poised to light our first rocket, which caused a great cheer from a little 'bang', we were in hysterics at the comparison!
Oh yes, and i sat in my greenhouse for the bigger fireworks....! ;D
this is a lovely thread, thanks for starting it EJ :)
the four of us trot down to the little orchard at the end of the garden, Dad set off all the big fireworks (under Mum's supervision lol), easily the best bit was the sparklers. Mum made us wear a woolen mitten for the sparkler hand, and the smell of fireworks and singed mitten are very nostalgic. Valmarg, love the idea of 1d bangers stuck in a cowpat ha ha ha ;D
We had them when I was a kid but eventualy my parents baulked at the price. One year when I was about fice we had 'indoor fireworks' that were supposed not to damage the furniture, but of course they did. We had chairs with burn marks for years afterwards.
We have a friend whose birthday is within a couple of days of bonfire night, and so for the past few years there's been a combined birthday/firework party for the circle of friends. Originally (when he lived in Crystal Palace) we went to the huge organised display there, but after the year where the fireworks were an hour late while we were subjected to some supposed music because some pop group had got lost (louder and more painful than the bangers to my mind!), we stopped. He flitted to Croydon, and we then would go as a group to the local playing field and let off loads of them with lots of safety space before going back for silly amounts of takeaway food.
Last year he and his wife had a new daughter, so it didn't quite happen (!) ;D but this year we got an invitation to see how soundly the baby could sleep... she didn't wake up once, despite the group bringing an assortment of whizzers, bangers and cracklers. And the obligatory Chinese!
moonbells
Do they still make jumping jacks? The only thing to spoil it for me when a child. Nowadays BW goes to help with car parking at local Round Table display (not this year, Strictly Come Dancing had priority ::)) and last year some twerp ran over his foot ;D
Me, I stay indoors with cats and dog and a glass or two of something sparkling............
Loved the photo,EJ.
In the very pre HSE 70's I remember the jumping jacks and dismantling bangers and wrapping the powder in foil, from cigarette packets to make bigger bangs! I hasten to add that I personally didn't do that, from a family who served in two wars, and a granddad who had limbs amputated, we had a healthy respect for explosives.
:o
I had a classmate who made a mega-banger (the chemistry teacher had been telling us how to make explosive) and blew up someone's briefcase. He had some seriously scorched schoolbooks after that experience.
As a child I went to the displays in Lewes, Sussex. They were grate evenings, the procession through town, the bonfires, burning effigies and the fireworks.
I also used to live in west London, with Guy Fawkes night, Divali, Eid etc there seemed to be constant fireworks for about a month.
As much as I like it I think there should be a few rules -
1. No fireworks after 9pm
2. Only on certain days. (eg when 5th Novemebr falls in the middle of the week we seemed to have them the weekend before, on the day and the weekend after) Wouldn'y be possibel to limit it to say three days?
My views are probably based on having a young family, a cat a liking for getting to bed early!
we're still getting fireworks NOW !!, four weeks and counting, I don't mind the small ones but some sound like a bomb going off :(
I was talking to OH about this thread, and he told me about some of the things he got up to as a youngster. Get a piece of lead piping, bend over one end, put a banger in it, light the blue touch paper, and bend over the other end of the pipe. Very big bang!!
Apparently some of his friends used to have duels with Roman Candles. Bit like the Jeddi knights.
SS the banger in the cowpat was clean harmless fun - unless you got in the firing line!!
I'm amazed how we managed to survive without the HSE!
valmarg
my eldest attached a banger to a small teddy, through a hole in it's bottom and blew it up, wierd :)
Oh wonderful manics - would love to have seen that!!
Another thing we used to do was poke holes in the banks of the local stream, put bangers in and 'excavate' the banks.
What larks Pip!!
valmarg
when I think about when I was a kid, I shiver, we used to have some waste land called the rec, everyone used to pile rubbish there, including old sofas, all the men would make a guy fawkes and stuff the pockets with fireworks, including rip raps and bangers, so you can imagine the havoc when the bonfire was lit, lads used to throw bangers and rip raps at us, we used to think it was funny !!, never thought about the danger :D