BONFIRE NIGHT

Been to the shop tonight and, side by side, they had things for Bonfire Night and Hallowe'en, and something occurred to me.

I mentioned to the lady serving me that I hadn't seen bonfire toffee (treacle toffee) in a very long time, and I love treacle toffee, so she said if she sees any on her travels she'd get some for me.

What does this generation do now on bommy neet, apart from setting stuff on fire and throwing an effigy of poor owd Guy Fawkes on it? We used to love clodding potatoes in until they were cooked and the skin was blackened. Deeelish! What else did we do?

Back in the day before the elf and 'you can't do that' brigade spoiled the fun, as kids in the 1960's we collected wood weeks before and, bommy raiding was the autumn adventure, We would raid other bommy collections and rivals would raid ours so. we'd post guards and always make a little fire to let the enemy know we were watching, The building of a Big bommy was the challenge and safe guarding your collections was paramount, penny bangers were the choice of a nights round the pre bommy fires and cooking baked spuds was common as its prato pickin' season and spuds were available at every farmers barn,

I think they still do pinch off other folks' bommies, but I don't remember ever having fireworks. Perhaps we weren't allowed them, but I'm thinking back to the 50s, so I don't think they would have been on sale then.

mollie m

Fireworks were sold in the fiftites and more often than not, by a newsagent, but no 'bombs' like you hear today.

Lots of people bought sparklers for the young ones,
Made huts inside the bonfire to be on guard, sit around a small fire,
Gave us something to do .

Bommie neet and the build up to it was the best time of the year for me.Plenty shops sold loose fireworks in the 50/60s from 1d upwards to 2/6d boxes.The cheapest was The Little Demon(penny banger).There were Roman candles,spinning wheels,jack jumpers sky rockets volcanoes etc that we bought as young kids no questions asked about your age.

Halloween has been hijacked with the yanks or it is just a good excuse for the yobs to run riotFor me todays fireworks should be banned they are nothing other than flying bombs

Ah thank you all. You've restored a memory for me. Yes, of course there were fireworks - Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels etc. I'd completely forgotten all about them.

We didn't go to big bonfires though as my dad made us a little one in the back yard, and I remember he'd bought a box of fireworks, and I recall him now lighting those pretty colourful fireworks; but, one particular thing that's been brought back to my memory is that we had Jumping Jacks. Dad had lit one and, as it was jumping around, it chased my mum into the kitchen, and it even jumped up the step to get to her. As kids, my brother and I were killing ourselves laughing at her squealing to get away.

Peter: Yes, I agree with you about the "bombs" which should be banned. They terrorise people, including me, but more importantly they frighten the poor animals which can traumatise them. All that money, only for it to go up in a big bang and lots of smoke. Senseless.

I am amazed by the idiots who set them off during daylight hours

They set them off in the middle of the night round here.

They've been going off here for the last few nights, at 11 p.m. and midnight.

There's a shop on Beech Hill Avenue that sells them all year round, but I don't think they should be allowed to go on sale until 31 October at the earliest.

We used to like watching the fireworks over in Bolton and Manchester from our landing, as the back of the house faces South East, and there's a very clear view from up there, but I hate the noisy ones closer to home.

we used to make a guy in a barrow and push it corner shops and pubs and ask for " penny for the guy please Mister" We never broke any records but, we'd get a few bob to buy fireworks,,,

Folk contradict themselves alarmingly on here. Boredom sets in: complacency followed by endless irrelvancies.

I blame Labour and all its rotten foundations.

Stop the rot: Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton.

Indeed.

John, have you thought about seeing a doctor?

Dave:

Too much boozin' with Polly round Wiggin.

Take care.

Roobarb

Anybody would think it's Bommy Neet round here tonight. Fireworks have been going off since it went dark and they're still at it.

Can they not just wait another couple of days? By the time it comes round they'll have used all their fireworks up, and only have bommies left to light, unless of course they have an endless flow of cash to set fire to.

I have made Treacle Toffee, and I still have a Toffee Hammer, which I suppose is a family heirloom, because it is older than I am

I went to a Bommy tonight and enjoyed it, I'll make a video tomorrow if the footage turns out because, it was dark and I'm not sure if my camera will work in low light, i'll find out later,

Did you sup all your home brew, Tom?

Hic, I had a good go but like Dean Martin who, failed to drink Canada Dry. I did't manage the full 5 gallons and, I didn't get hit by a sniper but, I'll collect the left overs and finish what i started tomorrow,,

Five GALLONS?! Flippin' heck Tom, you intended to have a good night.

Well, my little cat has just this minute come in. I hadn't seen her since last night so was getting worried. I was so relieved when she knocked on my window to be let in!

I supplied the 5 gallons for the party of bommy neet attendants but, It is a bitter and not very popular with the yung un's, most on wine, lager or shorts so most of the barrel will be coming home to me tomorrow unless, the yung uns run out and drink the Bitter as a ' better than nowt' alternative ,
updates to follow anon

Why didn't you take it when you left? I hope by "young 'uns" they were all at legal age to drink.

Why didn't you take it when you left? I hope by "young 'uns" they were all at legal age to drink.

Why didn't you take it when you left? I hope by "young 'uns" they were all at legal age to drink.

I was walking mollie so the complications involved are, Walking whilst drunk in charge of a half full barrel of beer or, " sorry mate that barrel is not allowed in my taxi, or a bus"
The yung uns were at the legal age for drinking and the really yunger uns were not encouraged to drink but, what is new to me and I find objective is, Girls/ladies swearing, My generation of ladies do not, ' eff and jeff' in public but, it seems acceptable today,

You did the right thing then.

As for females effing and jeffing, I find that very objectionable, but I find the same with men, especially if they do it in my presence. It's not acceptable. I can truly say hand on heart that I've never used any of those words in my life, mainly because there are many other ways to express myself which can be used in polite company. I even hate it when people just use abbreviations instead of "what the heck", as if we're all too stupid to know what's meant. It's very disrespectful. It's good to know that there are some people who still have standards.

I agree Mollie, as a bloke i use swear words quite a lot in male company at work and the pub But, never in front of ladies or children, Never in the house, There is a young woman near me with 4 kids and she is effin and jeffin and the whole street can hear her and, I'm thinking , Those kids will grow up thinking, this is normal

Exactly, Tom. There's a young woman near me who has two children and she's the same. It was probably the way she was brought up as well, but there's no excuse.

One soldier once said the F word when I was there but, to be fair, he hadn't seen me. As soon as he did, he stood to attention, saluted me, and said "Sorry Ma'am."

I am an ex pitman and because there was no females that worked down the pit most of the miners swore when at work. I nearly got into a fight in a pub when I pinned a lad up again a wall in the pub because every other word what came out of his mouth was fing this and fing that, Told him if he could not string a sentence together in front of women don't speak at all.In my second job most of the workforce were women and at times the swore more than any bloke

i too remember children could buy single fireworks in the 50s but they were simpler then. penny bangers and jumping jacks, sparklers. Now it's the noisier the better and no doubt cost an arm and a leg.

Oh Bugger.

Behave thi'sell, Tommy.

Here is my bommie neet experience at Wallys Bommy, Wally is a Ashton character who is a delight to know and this was on his smallhold land where he has, horses, ducks, hens, Geese, dogs , ferrets, rabbits and honey bees , and none of those animals complained about the noise,

Wallies Bommy 2024

That was a brilliant display of fireworks, and they came out well in your video.

The part I enjoyed the most was the drunken "vicar" conducting the wedding!

aye, that was Wally he's a boyo

Well bommy night is over with and unless people bought the "silent" fireworks in general was a lot quieter than last year I suppose though we will still have the idiots setting them of well into the new year
Typical night light rain but this morning the streets were clear and no smell of bonfires for a change

It always used to be foggy after bommie night.Clear skies this morning here