5th November 2004 - Bonfire Party and
Barbecue
(Click on Pictures to Enlarge)
Well it's all over for another year! The weather was
perfect and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves.
The day started early for Coralie and Frank - So many things to
organise from moving the horses from the field to building the bonfire!
Thankfully
by 5:30 most of it had been done. People started to arrive - Coralie was
stuck on car parking duty and trying to show the Rainbows where the loos were at
the same time. Frank had started to cook the sausages on the barbeque when
Paul & Ben arrived, ready to take over and make sure that they would be edible.
Gillian was busy slicing the rolls and stopped when the pile on the plate became
unstable because of its height!
Karen arrived with more sausages which were quickly put on the
barbeque. Before anyone could eat there was an important ceremony to carry
out. 8 girls had their Promise Ceremony with the 7th Redhill Brownies many of whom were ex
Redhill Rainbows.
A
ll
the Rainbows and Brownies were given glow-in-the-dark necklaces and at last it
was time to eat. Linda and Gillian were kept busy doing the hot dogs while Joan
looked after the ketchup and Judith was making hot chocolate. Frank was
quite happy dishing out mulled wine while Paul & Ben tried to keep up with the
demand for sausages and onions. Over 150 sausages were cooked on the
evening!
While
all this was going on Coralie got the bonfire lit. Cheryl had arrived home
from work, dashed over with some rolls and marshmallows before
working
hard getting some lights on by the loos and lighting the small campfire.
Amanda had also arrived, bringing with her a large firework which had been
donated by someone from the church who thought it was too big for their garden
firework party.
Before we knew it, it was 7 o'clock and time for the fireworks
which had been donated by Frank and Paul. There were so many of these we
have had to make a separate page for all the photographs.
Just click here to view the fireworks.
Everyone
seemed to enjoy these even if one or two of the Rainbows found them a little
noisy. The fireworks lasted about 25 minutes and received a round of
applause when completed.
While the Guides, who had arrived just before the fireworks,
were having their sausages the Rainbows and Brownies enjoyed their sparklers.
As soon as the sparklers were finished marshmallows on sticks were toasted on
the camp fire.
All
too soon it was time for the Rainbows and Brownies to say goodnight. Tired
and sleepy from all the fresh air and excitement they politely said thank you
for the evening and went home to bed with mums and dads.
In
the meantime the Guides were enjoying their sparklers and toasted marshmallows.
The last of the sausages were eaten, the mulled wine
quaffed
and the hot chocolate drunk. By 8:30 the last of the guides had gone home
and the many helpers had a chance to grab a drink for themselves and breathe a
sigh of relief at how well the night had gone.
A big thank you to all those who helped
make the evening so successful. Apologies to all those not mentioned by
name, this wasn't because your help wasn't appreciated! We'll see you all
again next year - Please
Postscript
It had been decided the previous night to leave most of the tidying
up until the morning. In the cold light of day the garden and field did
not look quite so festive. Thanks however to the efforts of Cheryl and
Coralie this has now all been sorted. For those of you contemplating
holding a similar event click here to see the
aftermath.
