Bonfire night fun 🔥
We had a great time on the barn meadow on Thursday 5th November at our first ever Guy Fawkes traditional bonfire event. Thanks to all who came to join in. It was a lovely atmosphere with lots of families, and dogs, having fun.
What a guy!
Our life-size 'Guy' enjoyed many coffees and chats during his time in the Flint Barn Café before the event. Little did he know what was ahead of him! Well done to park manager, Graeme, for this creepy creation.
What a bonfire!
The fire was formed of cut vegetation from the park as well as some delivery pallets we had no other use for. It certainly was a giant pile to set alight! Everything went up well and was turned to ash by around half past 7.
Check out our 'Guy' on top of the fire, getting rather warm. The bonfire created a lovely focal point for people to gather round together.
Lots of family fun
Our family craft actvities were certainly popular under our gazebo area. Lots of children made a little glowing lantern to hold, using a battery tea light candle. They gave a wonderful glow through the tracing paper surround, which also allowed children to decorate their own design and see it glowing through. Sorry this photo is a bit blurry. This little boy was so excited to show me what he had made.
We also gave out free glow bracelets to children, which were also really popular and proved handy to keep track of kids in the dark!
A memorable event
As a first go at this event, we were delighted with how it went. We appreciate everyone's patience when they had to queue and wait for their hotdogs and refreshments. We didn't know how many people to expect and therefore we soon found ourselves very busy indeed!
We think we will do this event again in future, so we have definitely taken forward some lessons for next time. It will remain a free event, but perhaps ticketing will help us to know how many people we expect to join us. We have also had a request for a slightly later time to light the fire, so people can get to us after work and not miss out. Thank you for the useful feedback so far. If you have any other helpful comments, please do get in touch.
Thank yous
Great thanks to all who made this event a great success. Whitlingham staff, volunteer marshals and craft helpers, first aiders, the amazing café team, and the Model Boat Club who lent us their double gazebo for our craft area. You are all stars!
Thank you again to all of those smiling faces who made the event such a joy 😊
