All fired up for night of fireworks

Published on Saturday 4 November 2006 13:10

THESE days Guy Fawkes Night is more likely to mean a trip out to one of the big organised firework displays, where a stunning array of colourful pyrotechnics are set off in succession by experts, than a boxful of fireworks being lit by dad in the back garden.

The Lothians' biggest and best-known displays include Musselburgh's display at Goosegreen and Edinburgh's at Meadowbank - which includes fireworks but not a bonfire - where tomorrow thousands will gather together in celebration of the foiling of Fawkes' plot to blow up the Westminster parliament.

But just a few decades ago in Edinburgh Bonfire Night meant just that - a bonfire.

It was usually lit on the street and composed of scraps of wood and other rubbish dragged together by the local youngsters in the days before health and safety regulations, as our pictures this week show.

And there are many Edinburgh residents who remember the time when Guy Fawkes Night was a little less organised than it is today.

As a child Grace Melrose, 74, of Willowbrae, lived in St James Square, which was pulled down in the 1960s to build the St James' Centre.

Bonfires at the time were local affairs, often lit by children from her street. "I don't know that I was ever allowed to light it but we were out to see once it was lit," she says.

She also remembers children knocking on doors for a "penny for the Guy" - a figure meant to represent Fawkes who was put on the bonfire.

"We were never allowed to do that. My mother said that was just begging!"

Beatrice MacKenzie, 88, of Leith, remembers "squibs". "That's what we called sparklers," she says. "We thought we were very daring if we had sparklers." But there were fewer fireworks in those days. We didn't have the money for them."

Instead, local lads would collect pieces of wood and other rubbish, pile it up in the street and set light to it. "Then the fire brigade would come along and put it out," laughs Beatrice.

But 75-year-old Alice Lauder, of Gayfield, has less happy memories of fireworks night. "My brother, John, was about nine and he picked up a firework which hadn't gone off. I don't know why but he blew on it and the blooming thing exploded in his face.

"He was whipped off to hospital and it was a wee while before we knew he was OK. He must have closed his eyes just as it went off so he lived to tell the tale."

It wasn't the only Bonfire Night where things didn't go quite according to plan. "One year, the boys had put a rocket in a broken milk bottle lying at an angle on the street," she says. This was in Parkvale Place, near Leith Links, where the family lived. "So the rocket went off at an angle and through the glass of the window of our home. It just hung there and set light to the curtains." The day was saved by her mother, who rushed up the stairs and put the curtains out.

But Alice remembers in general there was little adult supervision of youngsters and their fireworks. "Children used to pool their money to buy fireworks. The boys had boxes of matches and lit them themselves. It's no wonder there were so many accidents! I am all for organised fireworks."

Musselburgh's fireworks display and bonfire is tomorrow at Goosegreen. The bonfire will be lit at 7.30pm and fireworks start at 8pm. Free admission and parking. The Meadowbank event starts at 6.30pm tomorrow with children's activities, with the fireworks at 7.30pm. Admission is 4.50.