Barcombe Bonfire Society

About BBS

Barcombe Bonfire Society Ltd (BBS) is very much a family-orientated local Society, as witness the fact that the first event of Bonfire Night is a Fancy Dress Competition in the Village Hall, including prizes for children from 0 to 16, Pairs, Groups, and the Best Family Group in Fancy Dress (actually a Procession Prize). BBS shows its roots very clearly in this respect. The idea is that everybody (and the children especially) continue to wear their Fancy Dress and walk in the torchlit Procession that follows. As such, suitable costumes are favoured - excessive use of artificial fabrics and/or flammable materials isn't a good idea.

The current BBS Pioneer costume has just changed recently to classic Japanese - kimonos, obis, black wigs, white faces, samurai swords and all that! Second Pioneers remain Dickensian if you don't have time to get a new costume together, and please see The Dickens Fair site for some Top Tips there. You can get away with a costume from up to the mid-19th century (strictly speaking Victorian) if you're struggling.

BBS is the closest to Lewes a non-Lewes Society gets, and indeed we often get favourable feedback from Lewesians who have seen our displays from the town. BBS displays are surprisingly substantial, and are definitely very good value if you compare our budget to that of most other Bonfire Societies. We tend to have a display team (and of course Captain of Fireworks) that has learned to fill financial gaps with creativity!

As for all Bonfire Societies, Remembrance is central to BBS. The next significant event after the Fancy Dress Competition is the Last Post being played, followed by the Remembrance Poppy (a fine set piece) being lit during the minute's silence that follows. The entire Procession is present, but no torches are lit. I always find this very moving.

Procession routes are changing back this year to take in Barcombe Mills on the Main Procession. To start the evening, following on from the Fancy Dress, there is a short children's procession up to Mongers Mead (-ish) and back down the High Street. After this there is a procession from the Royal Oak right out to Barcombe Mills for a quick spot of liquid refreshment before processing back to the Oak. Then there is the procession out to the Crink for the Grand Display. The night is rounded off by the Grand Procession back from the Crink to the Oak.

Before the procession out to the Crink we sometimes light up one or two mini tableaux at Barcombe Cross, just in front of Signpost House. When we first did this, the tableaux were designed by children in the village as part of a competition. Let us know if you would like us to return to doing that, as take-up was pretty poor first time around, so we would need to be sure of sufficient support. Thanks.

It's worth mentioning that safety is our greatest priority. Thankfully we've had very few - in fact, no - injuries on Bonfire Night, and that's the way we want to keep it; but it takes work by us and by you to keep the record clean.

The committee need to do fund-raising pretty much all year round to have Bonfire Night, but the main regular means of income is the House-to-House collection of membership fees that takes place around the beginning of Spring. In my time on the committee (since 1998) it's usually been one big event on top of the House-to-House that's really made Bonfire Night viable, but the current committee would like to spread the load a bit more if possible. As such, please do support any new BBS events.

This site is definitely a work in progress, and is definitely going to expand - I already have quite a few pictures and stories - and some other fun stuff - I need to incorporate. So keep an eye on these pages.

If you live in or around Barcombe and are interested in getting involved in BBS activities, please check out Activities.

And if you're just passing through, and have nothing to do with Barcombe but may want to buy stuff (like badges and other Bonfire gear), sponsor us, or advertise on this site, please contact me or any member of the committee. We'd love to hear from you.