About South Heighton Bonfire Society
South Heighton Bonfire Society is a family-friendly volunteer organisation based in the small village of South Heighton, near Newhaven in East Sussex.
Unlike societies with Victorian roots, South Heighton Bonfire Society has a thoroughly modern origin story.
The society grew from a village fireworks display and an experimental torchlit procession held in 2002, before being formally established at a meeting at the Flying Fish in early 2003.
From those modest beginnings, South Heighton Bonfire Society has grown to around 200 adult members and 70 junior members, with its blue and yellow Smugglers and other costumed members appearing at celebrations throughout the season.
Before South Heighton Bonfire Society
South Heighton had a village fireworks display long before it had an official Bonfire Society.
Originally, the display was held behind South Heighton Village Hall, in an area the society itself now jokes would be far too small for a modern event.
Fireworks were discharged by members of the Village Hall committee before safety considerations eventually led to the display being moved to the Recreation Ground.
That Recreation Ground would later become the permanent firesite of South Heighton Bonfire Society.
The 2002 Procession
The turning point came in 2002.
The Village Hall committee decided that the annual fireworks ought to include some form of procession.
A small group dressed in costume and assembled a collection of homemade torches.
The early design was certainly memorable: the society's own history describes them as heavy pieces of wood topped with petrol-soaked MDF.
The group marched from the Village Green, past the Hampden Arms and down The Hollow before lighting the bonfire and watching the fireworks.
Accompanying them was one of the more eccentric objects in South Heighton history – the famous “bell with no donger.”
That small procession effectively became the prototype for the modern society.
Born at the Flying Fish in 2003
Shortly afterwards, several of those involved found themselves discussing the idea in the pub.
The conclusion was that South Heighton should have a proper Bonfire society.
In early 2003, a meeting was held at the Flying Fish and South Heighton Bonfire Society was formally born as a subcommittee of South Heighton Village Hall.
The society's own account retains the humour of those early days, noting that the founding group included experienced Bonfire members, people who simply loved fireworks, a few people it describes as “nuts” and apparently even some who had arrived expecting the pub quiz.
It is a wonderfully informal origin for what became a substantial village organisation.
The First Official Procession
The first official South Heighton Bonfire Society procession took place later in 2003.
At that stage, anyone in the village could dress up, join the procession and carry a torch.
Members proceeded to the firesite, where Nevill Juvenile Bonfire Society provided the fireworks display. Nevill continued supporting South Heighton's displays for many years afterwards.
The evening was a success, and the Village Hall committee even made a small surplus.
That success demonstrated that South Heighton's experiment could become an annual tradition.
Four Members at Uckfield
South Heighton Bonfire Society began attending other celebrations in 2004.
Its very first outmeeting was Uckfield, traditionally one of the earliest celebrations in the season.
Only four South Heighton members attended.
Things changed quickly.
Later that year, South Heighton was invited to Lewes as a guest of Waterloo Bonfire Society.
A new banner was made, and around 30 to 40 members turned out for the Fifth.
For a society that had only officially existed for around a year, it represented remarkable growth.
The Last Train Home
The early years also produced some entertaining travelling stories.
After the 2004 Lewes celebrations, the society's chairman and two other members ended up catching the last train home while carrying the society banner.
By 2005, the society had become slightly more organised and hired a coach for the journey to Lewes.
That year members also travelled further afield, including Hastings, as South Heighton established itself as a regular visiting society.
Blue and Yellow Smugglers
South Heighton Bonfire Society's striped costume is royal blue and yellow.
Members who choose Smuggler dress wear the blue and yellow hand-knitted guernsey with white trousers.
The society is particular about the colours.
Its official knitting pattern specifies royal blue and daffodil yellow, with blue used for the cuffs, neck and ribbing.
Members can also choose costume rather than striped dress.
Current membership rules allow themed costumes including Barbarian and period military dress.
That combination gives South Heighton plenty of visual variety when members appear in procession.
A Society of Nearly 300 Members
The growth of South Heighton Bonfire Society has been impressive.
From a handful of people carrying homemade torches in 2002, the society has developed to around 200 adult members and 70 junior members.
That is a particularly large membership for a small village.
The procession has consequently become much more formalised.
For safety and insurance reasons, only members of South Heighton Bonfire Society and invited guests can now take part and carry torches.
Junior members can process too, but must be closely supervised by an adult member.
South Heighton Bonfire Night
The society's annual celebration takes place on the second Saturday in November.
The torchlit procession traditionally begins around the Flying Fish area in Denton before making its way towards South Heighton.
The route passes through Denton and up towards the village before reaching South Heighton Recreation Ground, where the fireworks display takes place.
The event remains strongly village-focused, and the society specifically warns that there is no designated public parking around the firesite.
That reflects the relatively compact rural setting in which the celebration takes place.
The Flying Fish Connection
The Flying Fish has played a central role in the story of the society.
It was there that the formal meeting creating South Heighton Bonfire Society took place in 2003, and the modern procession continues to begin around the Flying Fish area.
That gives the modern celebration a direct connection with the place where the organisation itself began.
Just as pubs have historically acted as headquarters and meeting places for older societies, the Flying Fish became the birthplace of a twenty-first-century Bonfire society.
Fundraising Throughout the Year
South Heighton Bonfire Society is run entirely by volunteers.
Members are involved in fundraising, torch making, marshalling the procession and setting up the firesite, alongside the many other practical jobs required to stage the event.
The society is closely connected with South Heighton Village Hall, itself a registered charity.
Indeed, the society originally developed as a subcommittee of the Village Hall organisation, continuing the relationship between the village's community facilities and its Bonfire celebration.
Membership
South Heighton Bonfire Society welcomes both adults and families.
Adult members can join in their own right, while younger members participate alongside an adult.
Members can wear the blue and yellow Smuggler jumper or one of the approved costume styles, carry torches in the home procession and attend outmeetings elsewhere during the season.
The society also organises coaches to many of those events, reflecting just how much the organisation has grown since four members made the first trip to Uckfield in 2004.
From a Bell with No Donger to Nearly 300 Members
South Heighton Bonfire Society has one of the more entertaining origin stories on the modern circuit.
It began with a longstanding village fireworks display, followed in 2002 by a small procession involving homemade torches and the famous bell with no donger.
A conversation in the pub led to the formal creation of the society at the Flying Fish in early 2003.
Only four members attended the society's first outmeeting at Uckfield in 2004, but by the end of that season between 30 and 40 were processing in Lewes.
Today, South Heighton Bonfire Society has around 270 adult and junior members, distinctive blue and yellow stripes and a well-established home celebration on the second Saturday in November.
What started as a small village experiment has become a substantial family society – while still retaining much of the humour and community spirit of those first slightly chaotic processions.