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There are many bonfire & firework displays to which I am hoping to go, all taking place between now and the weekend, and being held to mark Guy Fawkes & his part in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Three of these are:

St Leonards School Bonfire & Firework Display

This bonfire and Firework display is taking place on Wednesday, in the grounds of a nearby school and Barbecued food such as Hamburgers & Hot Dogs will be on sale to help stave off the cold.

Bridgnorth Town football Club Bonfire Night

This weekend, Saturday 8th November, there is also a bonfire and two Firework displays taking place in the grounds of a nearby football club aswell. Food will also be on sale and a licensed bar will be selling drinks too.

Woodberry Down Bonfire & Firework Display

On Sunday 9th November there is also another bonfire & Firework display. This time it is taking place at a nearby pub . Barbecued food such as Hamburgers & Hot Dogs will also be on sale, aswell as drinks.

November 5th is Bonfire Night or Guy Fawkes Night, when fires are lit & fireworks set off, to commemorate Guy Fawkes, who was captured in November 1605 trying to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

He was a member of the so-called Gunpowder Plot, which came about when Guy Fawkes, along with 13 other men, under the leadership of Robert Catesby, decided that they’d had enough of being persecuted for being Catholic. So they plotted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in order to kill King James I, the Prince of Wales, and other Members of Parliament, who were making life difficult for the Catholics.

So to carry out their plan, the conspirators got hold of 36 barrels of gunpowder – and stored them in a cellar, just under the House of Lords. However it soon became clear that innocent people would also be hurt or killed in the blast, including some people who even fought for more rights for Catholics, so Some of the plotters started having second thoughts.

One of these members even sent an anonymous letter warning his friend, Lord Monteagle, to stay away from Parliament on November 5th. This letter reached the King, and the King’s forces made plans to stop the conspirators, and in the early hours of November 5th the authorities stormed the cellar beneath the House of Lords and found Guy Fawkes guarding the 36 barrels of gunpowder.

So Guy Fawkes along with a few others, was promptly arrested, the plot was foiled and he ended up being executed for treason.