Bonfire night at the allotment

Last week I spent the day down the allotment helping preparations for Bonfire night.

I arrived late on site and was halfway through feeding the chickens when Steve walked by and asked if we had any dry wood at home we needed to get rid of. We have tons – all left over from the old fence and general odds and ends. Steve went home to pick up the trailer and I sprinted home to put it into a pile in the middle of the garden.

Steve and Will arrived to help me load up the trailer. I wasn’t sure if there would be enough to fill it but there definitely was! Piled high, they drove off to the allotment where Mick the Greek was busy building the bonfire.

Later that evening, we walked down armed with treacle toffee to join everyone celebrating bonfire night. We arrived in the dark and opened the clubhouse. After a short while, the others started to appear and there was a lengthy discussion about whether the wind was too high and in the wrong direction for the main fire to be lit.

Cliff started off a trial one in the incinerator bin. The wind was getting stronger and the smoke kept blowing towards the houses opposite the bonfire. We decided to just keep the incinerator going and leave the main fire for another day.

Not long after we made that decision, Steve arrived laden with food. Chicken wings, sausages and chips complete with mushy peas and rounded off with our offering of treacle toffee. Scrummy! We periodically popped outside the clubhouse to top up the incinerator and we caught a few fireworks going off in the distance.

Plans for next year include better weather and fairy lights for the inside of the clubhouse so we don’t have to share a single torch!