About Vines Cross Bonfire Society
Vines Cross Bonfire Society represents the small East Sussex village of Vines Cross, close to Heathfield.
The society is generally recorded as having been formed in 1996, making it one of the younger Bonfire organisations in the county. Despite representing a comparatively small community, Vines Cross established a distinctive identity and became a familiar visiting society at processions elsewhere in Sussex.
Over the years, members have been particularly associated with skull-and-crossbones imagery and Voodoo-inspired costume, giving Vines Cross a very different appearance from societies whose Pioneers are based around military or historical dress.
The village itself once staged its own Bonfire festivities and fireworks, while the Brewers Arms has long provided a natural focal point for community life in Vines Cross.
Formed in the 1990s
Vines Cross Bonfire Society is generally listed as having been established in 1996.
That places its formation during a period when a number of Sussex communities were reviving old Bonfire traditions or establishing new societies of their own.
Unlike organisations able to trace continuous records back into the Victorian period, Vines Cross developed its traditions relatively recently.
That gave members considerable freedom to create an identity of their own rather than simply inheriting one from an earlier organisation.
Within only a few years, Vines Cross was already appearing at major celebrations elsewhere. A report from Lewes Bonfire in 2002, for example, records a visiting group from the Brewers Arms at Vines Cross taking part with Waterloo Bonfire Society.
Voodoo and the Skull and Crossbones
Perhaps the most unusual aspect of Vines Cross Bonfire Society is its costume tradition.
Older Bonfire directories identify Voodoo as the society's principal costume, while other accounts describe members processing with skull-and-crossbones imagery.
That makes Vines Cross visually very different from societies whose costumes represent specific armies, occupations or periods of British history.
Dark clothing, skull motifs and other dramatic details create an appearance particularly suited to torchlight.
However, I have not found a reliable surviving account explaining why Voodoo was originally chosen when the society was formed.
It is therefore better to recognise it simply as one of Vines Cross Bonfire Society's established traditions rather than inventing a connection with the village's history.
The Brewers Arms
The Brewers Arms has long been one of the principal landmarks in Vines Cross.
The village is small enough that the pub plays an especially important role as a community meeting place. Horam Parish Council describes Vines Cross today as having little remaining commercial activity beyond the Brewers Arms and the village garage.
The pub also appears in records connected with Vines Cross Bonfire Society.
When members attended Lewes in 2002, the local newspaper described the visiting contingent specifically as coming from the Brewers Arms in Vines Cross.
That association reflects a much wider Bonfire tradition in which local pubs have acted as headquarters, meeting places and fundraising centres for societies.
For Vines Cross, the Brewers Arms provided a natural home around which members could organise and socialise.
Bonfire in Vines Cross
Vines Cross once held its own local Bonfire celebrations.
Horam Parish Council remembers the village as having had a very active Bonfire society which organised fireworks and festivities.
For a settlement the size of Vines Cross, staging its own celebration represented a significant community undertaking.
Members had to raise money, organise the event and bring together the practical equipment required for procession and fireworks.
The home celebrations also gave residents their own local event rather than requiring them to travel to the much larger towns and villages elsewhere in East Sussex.
In more recent years, access to suitable local land has made fireworks in Vines Cross less prominent in the village calendar. Horam Parish Council specifically identifies access issues on local land as a reason for that change.
On the Road
Vines Cross Bonfire Society has also been known for representing the village at celebrations elsewhere.
That travelling tradition is particularly important for smaller societies.
A society does not need a huge home procession to maintain an identity of its own. By attending other celebrations, members can carry their costumes and society name through towns and villages across Sussex.
The 2002 Lewes procession provides a documented example of Vines Cross doing exactly that, with members attending alongside Waterloo Bonfire Society.
Vines Cross also continues to appear in current lists of Sussex Bonfire societies maintained by organisations including Hailsham Bonfire Society and Edenbridge Bonfire Society.
A Very Small Village
Part of what makes Vines Cross interesting is the scale of the community it represents.
Vines Cross is a small settlement within Horam Parish, a few miles from Heathfield.
The village was once considerably more self-contained, with its own school, bakery, post office, church and grocer. Today, the Brewers Arms and garage remain among the most visible businesses at the centre of the village.
There are still active community organisations, including the Vines Cross Community Association and local History Group, which organise events such as children's activities, Christmas carols and fetes.
Against that background, the creation of a Bonfire society in the 1990s can be seen as another example of a small community creating organisations capable of bringing local people together.
Where Does the Name Vines Cross Come From?
Even the name of the village has an interesting history.
Horam Parish Council records a belief that Vines Cross may have taken its name from John Vyne, known as “The Vintner”, of Hellingly in 1595.
Another suggestion is much more literal: vines and grapes have historically been found in the surrounding area, so the name may simply refer to a cross near vines.
Neither explanation has anything directly to do with the Bonfire Society, but the uncertainty surrounding the village name adds another small piece of character to the community represented by the society.
Community and Volunteering
A society representing a village the size of Vines Cross inevitably depends heavily upon volunteers.
Members are needed not simply to appear in procession but to organise fundraising, prepare equipment and maintain the society's presence at events elsewhere.
Smaller societies can be particularly vulnerable when membership declines because a relatively small number of people may be responsible for much of the work.
That makes every member important.
For Vines Cross Bonfire Society, participation has also provided a way for a small village to maintain a visible identity at celebrations attended by societies representing much larger communities.
A Distinctive Small Society
Vines Cross Bonfire Society may not possess the extensive Victorian archives of some of its neighbours, but it has developed a character unmistakably its own.
Generally recorded as being formed in 1996, the society quickly established itself as part of the visiting Bonfire community. By 2002, members from the Brewers Arms were already being recorded in the Lewes processions.
Its Voodoo-inspired dress and skull-and-crossbones imagery provided an unusual visual identity, while the Brewers Arms linked the society firmly with the village it represented.
Vines Cross also staged its own fireworks and festivities, although difficulties accessing suitable land have made home fireworks less prominent in more recent years.
For such a small community, that history is an achievement in itself.
Vines Cross Bonfire Society demonstrates that a society does not need to represent a large town or stage an enormous procession to create traditions of its own – sometimes a village pub, a group of volunteers and a particularly memorable costume are enough to put a tiny East Sussex community firmly on the Bonfire map.