67. Bangers, squibs and bonfires.

Back in the olden days when I was yet a teenager, Halloween, as we now celebrate it, was a much lower key affair. Pumpkins had not found their way across the pond and turnip lanterns did the the same job, being hollowed-out with carved faces, a stump of a candle and string long enough to prevent burnt little fingers. ‘Trick or treat,’ like Hogmanay was more of a Scottish thing, but that didn’t stop us Geordies taking advantage. Yes we went knocking on neighbours’ doors to be rewarded with sweets although I have no recollection of any ‘tricks’ being performed.

Guy Fawkes Night: now that was something special! Each locality usually had a piece of spare ground where a bonfire could be built. Wood of every kind, from trees to old wardrobes was collected for weeks in anticipation and a bonfire erected on the site. Sometimes groups from another area would steal our ‘bonna’ which in turn involved raiding parties to steal it back. I have a vague recollection of parents guarding the bonfires as the date (November 5th) approached and I don’t remember anyone’s ‘bonna’ being set alight before it should have been. The ceremonial lighting duly took place as dusk fell and large crowds of parents and children turned out to see it.

Fireworks played as important a role as the bonfire itself. Very young children always had ‘sparklers’. I don’t know whether they still exist in these health and safety times, but they are/were a thin metal rod coated with a chemical which got very hot and produced sparks to the delight of the very young. Everybody bought as many fireworks as they could afford, and either brought them to share around the bonfire or in there own yard or garden. Several/most fireworks were quite dangerous and were banned long ago, Oohing and aahing was brought on by Volcanoes, Catherine Wheels and Roman Candles, which, when nailed to a fence or placed on the ground, produced bursts and plumes of ‘sparks’ of many colours high in the air. Bangers were a boy’s favourite: they were miniature versions of what the army now call flash-bangs. They were available at various prices, the dearer, the louder the bang and more dangerous, I guess. The instructions were to ‘light the blue touch paper and retire’, but it was much more daring to hold it in your hand and throw it in the air at the last moment, drop it down a drain, under a metal dustbin lid and ……… you can see where it became necessary to ban them. Rockets were launched from glass milk bottles or some equivalent, but didn’t always go upwards. I recall one entering our neighbour’s kitchen and landing in a box of unused fireworks. Although it was rapidly thrown out of the door, that soon brought the event to a close, luckily without anyone being hurt. Squibs: were a sort of rocket without a stick and were laid flat on the ground and could shoot off anywhere you pointed it. Jumping-Jacks surely must have disappeared. They were a sort of zig-zag held in place with string; when the ubiquitous blue touch paper was ignited there were a serious of bangs, one after another, with the firework leaping off the ground after each explosion. Good for making the girls squeal, as I recall.

Every Guy Fawkes Night, these days, is preceded by TV advertising of the dangers, with graphic images of injuries and although there must have been some back in our day, I was never aware of them. Surely, if it is accepted that they are so dangerous, they should not be sold in supermarkets as they are. Public displays are never far away and it’s not as if life would not go on without lighting your own blue touch paper.