I’d noticed fewer free firework shows around but can’t make up my mind if this writer is just moaning about what’s an inevitable reality or whether something big is really changing? This bit in particular:
“But the point goes beyond the black and white of spreadsheets. To me, the loss of the free fireworks display is a great big technicoloured symbol of something shifting. The quiet disappearance of pleasures we once took for granted; the seep of leisure from a communal pursuit to a private endeavour; the zero-sum neighbourhood (you can’t have a fun activity if you want your road fixed); the idea of community – a proven good for health, local economy and cohesion – as a trivial nice-to-have.”
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It’s behind a paywall so will post the whole piece below
The weather was really shit this weekend tbf
Whats sad is how young uns don’t go round collecting firewood (chumping) and don’t penny for the guy anymore
Not sure whether this is a local thing – but where I live there were plenty of free [to attend] firework displays – they weren’t council run mind you, they were run by cricket/rugby clubs.
All fireworks displays are free if you just stand nearby
If bonfire night is a traditional British value, do you think Cruella might try and lock up councils that have scrapped it?
/s
On behalf of every pet I’ve ever had: good. Fireworks can’t die fast enough.
There are better ways to foster community than launching high explosives into the air.
I wish the private fireworks shows would die a silent death. Seems like it’s been 1am midweek shows for weeks.
The working class and those in poverty are being gradually priced out any kind of culture.
Museums, Castles, Countryside, Art Galleries, Football Matches, Art, Gigs, Music – even being in a band … what was the last big band you heard that made it from a council estate … they all come via music college now. Everything has a price barrier beyond that of those that probably most need it … the ones who feel so rejected by society.
Bonfire night is now becoming a ticketed or an inaccessible event to socialise with the rest of society.
There is a war on culture going on.
It’s sad and people cheering it on really sums up our country lol. Seems there’s enough miserable nobbers to ruin all the good things
I don’t ever remember them being completely free when I was a kid. There would always be collection buckets on the way out to help pay for the following years displays.
You mean the ever rising cost of liability insurance.
The town firework display was free and pretty good; there were others nearby too, they asked a fee but the cash went to charity. I still prefer to walk up into the hills and watch them all over the area until the smoke obscures them completely.
Free community fireworks displays were basically finished after [an organiser was charged with manslaughter when smoke from a display caused a pileup that killed 7 people](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash)
fuck fireworks, so tired of hearing them from 7 pm to midnight for a week up to guy fawkes night. theyre loud asf, cause pollution, and kill/scare animals. so you can gawk at PreTty LIghTS in the sky for 3 minutes.
Yep, 2 displays have been near us my entire life. This year they were both cancelled.
My town tried for years to force people to pay for watching the fireworks. They used to hold it in one of the parks in near the town centre and close of the surrounding roads to non residents or people who had paid to watch it. They finally gave up though and realised that nature always finds a way.
Now they have been holding it in one of the bigger parks in town that’s much more accessible. They are covering the cost by charging for access to a VIP area which has dedicated bars and food stalls so people don’t have to queue and also lots of seating with a good view.
For those that don’t want to pay for the VIP area there are plenty of other bars and food stalls plus a fairground and entertainment before and after the show.
It was well policed with very little bother beyond the few idiots who seem unable to behave themselves any time something like this happens. A big part of this was that everyone who wanted to could see everything.
People enjoyed it and seems the town council have come up with a sensible solution to the problem of people watching it for free. Basically let them watch it for free but charge them for as many other things as possible.
That’s the thing about fireworks. They’re a very up activity. Hard to hide the sky without one of those Mr Burns thingies. It’s funny to see the organisers squirming around to try to find ways to make us pay to look up
Yup let’s light up some cheap Chinese explosives have them make a loud bang with a flash and litter the local area. This shit can’t die fast enough.
When one firework costs over 100 quid where I live, i reckon you need to be pretty wealthy to afford a display.
Our local authority have made it really difficult and expensive to be able to put them on so most places have stopped.
So we just do our own in the parks, there’s a specific park in my city that is renowned for it. Big hill with an amazing view of the rest of the city. There’s a few groups of us who go up every year and do an amateur display. Along with about 1000 spectators.
They put signs up around the entrances this year saying do not set anything off in the park, oh how we laughed.
I think we should go back to the reason for fireworks night and go after the dodgy MPs and government!
Don’t disagree with the general message but I don’t think I’ve ever been to a free fireworks display since I was born. I’m late thirties and grew up in the midlands.
The one I went to at the weekend (midlands again as was visiting family) was £6, which I don’t think is unreasonable at all given the fireworks themselves probably cost between £40-50k. I think when I was a kid they maybe cost a couple of quid
Never was such a thing as the free fireworks display you always pay in one way or another the difference is they know they have taken all your money and still want more so instead of getting fireworks you get fuck all and they still take your cash.
I’m only just learning about free fireworks displays.
I’ve only ever known of ones you pay to go and see.
Unless you count the ones where you don’t pay to go in the park.
Kilmarnock was known for its fireworks display every year, people came from neighbouring towns to see it, they had the local radio there presenting a couple of local bands playing and a few people selling food and the usual tat. It was brilliant. As I said people would come from miles around to see it and on the way home would go get some chips or something else to eat. People genuinely looked forward to it.
It was cancelled a few years ago because they would rather spend the money on something else. That said it seems from an outsider’s perspective that East Ayrshire Council only spend money on things that benefit East Ayrshire Council not on providing services for the people that live there.
25 comments
I’d noticed fewer free firework shows around but can’t make up my mind if this writer is just moaning about what’s an inevitable reality or whether something big is really changing? This bit in particular:
“But the point goes beyond the black and white of spreadsheets. To me, the loss of the free fireworks display is a great big technicoloured symbol of something shifting. The quiet disappearance of pleasures we once took for granted; the seep of leisure from a communal pursuit to a private endeavour; the zero-sum neighbourhood (you can’t have a fun activity if you want your road fixed); the idea of community – a proven good for health, local economy and cohesion – as a trivial nice-to-have.”
​
It’s behind a paywall so will post the whole piece below
The weather was really shit this weekend tbf
Whats sad is how young uns don’t go round collecting firewood (chumping) and don’t penny for the guy anymore
Not sure whether this is a local thing – but where I live there were plenty of free [to attend] firework displays – they weren’t council run mind you, they were run by cricket/rugby clubs.
All fireworks displays are free if you just stand nearby
If bonfire night is a traditional British value, do you think Cruella might try and lock up councils that have scrapped it?
/s
On behalf of every pet I’ve ever had: good. Fireworks can’t die fast enough.
There are better ways to foster community than launching high explosives into the air.
I wish the private fireworks shows would die a silent death. Seems like it’s been 1am midweek shows for weeks.
The working class and those in poverty are being gradually priced out any kind of culture.
Museums, Castles, Countryside, Art Galleries, Football Matches, Art, Gigs, Music – even being in a band … what was the last big band you heard that made it from a council estate … they all come via music college now. Everything has a price barrier beyond that of those that probably most need it … the ones who feel so rejected by society.
Bonfire night is now becoming a ticketed or an inaccessible event to socialise with the rest of society.
There is a war on culture going on.
It’s sad and people cheering it on really sums up our country lol. Seems there’s enough miserable nobbers to ruin all the good things
I don’t ever remember them being completely free when I was a kid. There would always be collection buckets on the way out to help pay for the following years displays.
You mean the ever rising cost of liability insurance.
The town firework display was free and pretty good; there were others nearby too, they asked a fee but the cash went to charity. I still prefer to walk up into the hills and watch them all over the area until the smoke obscures them completely.
Free community fireworks displays were basically finished after [an organiser was charged with manslaughter when smoke from a display caused a pileup that killed 7 people](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_M5_motorway_crash)
fuck fireworks, so tired of hearing them from 7 pm to midnight for a week up to guy fawkes night. theyre loud asf, cause pollution, and kill/scare animals. so you can gawk at PreTty LIghTS in the sky for 3 minutes.
Yep, 2 displays have been near us my entire life. This year they were both cancelled.
My town tried for years to force people to pay for watching the fireworks. They used to hold it in one of the parks in near the town centre and close of the surrounding roads to non residents or people who had paid to watch it. They finally gave up though and realised that nature always finds a way.
Now they have been holding it in one of the bigger parks in town that’s much more accessible. They are covering the cost by charging for access to a VIP area which has dedicated bars and food stalls so people don’t have to queue and also lots of seating with a good view.
For those that don’t want to pay for the VIP area there are plenty of other bars and food stalls plus a fairground and entertainment before and after the show.
It was well policed with very little bother beyond the few idiots who seem unable to behave themselves any time something like this happens. A big part of this was that everyone who wanted to could see everything.
People enjoyed it and seems the town council have come up with a sensible solution to the problem of people watching it for free. Basically let them watch it for free but charge them for as many other things as possible.
That’s the thing about fireworks. They’re a very up activity. Hard to hide the sky without one of those Mr Burns thingies. It’s funny to see the organisers squirming around to try to find ways to make us pay to look up
Yup let’s light up some cheap Chinese explosives have them make a loud bang with a flash and litter the local area. This shit can’t die fast enough.
When one firework costs over 100 quid where I live, i reckon you need to be pretty wealthy to afford a display.
Our local authority have made it really difficult and expensive to be able to put them on so most places have stopped.
So we just do our own in the parks, there’s a specific park in my city that is renowned for it. Big hill with an amazing view of the rest of the city. There’s a few groups of us who go up every year and do an amateur display. Along with about 1000 spectators.
They put signs up around the entrances this year saying do not set anything off in the park, oh how we laughed.
I think we should go back to the reason for fireworks night and go after the dodgy MPs and government!
Don’t disagree with the general message but I don’t think I’ve ever been to a free fireworks display since I was born. I’m late thirties and grew up in the midlands.
The one I went to at the weekend (midlands again as was visiting family) was £6, which I don’t think is unreasonable at all given the fireworks themselves probably cost between £40-50k. I think when I was a kid they maybe cost a couple of quid
Never was such a thing as the free fireworks display you always pay in one way or another the difference is they know they have taken all your money and still want more so instead of getting fireworks you get fuck all and they still take your cash.
I’m only just learning about free fireworks displays.
I’ve only ever known of ones you pay to go and see.
Unless you count the ones where you don’t pay to go in the park.
Kilmarnock was known for its fireworks display every year, people came from neighbouring towns to see it, they had the local radio there presenting a couple of local bands playing and a few people selling food and the usual tat. It was brilliant. As I said people would come from miles around to see it and on the way home would go get some chips or something else to eat. People genuinely looked forward to it.
It was cancelled a few years ago because they would rather spend the money on something else. That said it seems from an outsider’s perspective that East Ayrshire Council only spend money on things that benefit East Ayrshire Council not on providing services for the people that live there.