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COURIER OPINION: Tayside and Fife need official Bonfire Night displays to protect tradition and safety

With Dundee no longer having an official display and those in Perth and Buckhaven finishing this year, tradition and safety are at risk.

Fireworks above the South Inch in Perth on Bonfire Night 2024. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson
Fireworks above the South Inch in Perth on Bonfire Night 2024. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Remember, remember the 5th of November…

The traditional rhyme for Guy Fawkes night is a warning at risk of being ignored.

Soon all we’ll have is memories of bonfire night – or at least bonfire night celebrated in an enjoyable, controlled environment.

Once again, Dundee was left with no official display, while organisers in Perth and Buckhaven fear this year’s festivities will be their last.

There is a lack of both funding and volunteers to keep hosting these safety-conscious, well-marshalled events.

Tradition and safety at risk

The loss of these official bonfire night celebrations is an issue for two reasons –

Firstly, it’s an evening when communities wrap up warm and come together to watch the fireworks explode in the skies overhead as kids clutch sparklers in their hands.

Such nights in the calendar should be welcomed: family-friendly occasions with a bit of history and the additional arts, crafts and theatre of effigy building and burning.

Mabel McNicol (6) from Dundee travelled to Perth for Bonfire Night. But where will she go next year? Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Secondly, there’s an extremely good safety argument for having official events hosted in a controlled environment, with safety precautions at a premium.

Organised bonfire nights will help prevent a multitude of ad hoc, impromptu displays popping up across cities and towns.

While trouble was thankfully much diminished this year, we all remember the chaos and devastation from before.

And while an official fireworks celebration might not solve the issue entirely, it certainly gives reason for bringing in a ban on the public sale of the problematic pyrotechnics.

Fire were set off in the 2023 Kirkton riots.
A fire on a street in Kirkton in 2023. Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson

In an online poll conducted by The Courier, 83% of readers backed a ban on fireworks outside of official displays.

It’s a power that local authorities have been given by the Scottish Government, but as of yet no authority in Tayside or Fife has sought to implement it.

To be justified in utilising such restrictions, councils would need to offer an official display in return.

Bonfire night should be an opportunity

It’s The Courier’s belief that there must be an organised display, especially in cities like Dundee and Perth.

Whether that is operated by the council alone or with the help of third party involvement is up to the local authority.

But councils should see this as an opportunity rather than a burden.

A bonfire in Perth. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

For starters, it is an easy solution to begin cracking down on the social disorder that currently surrounds and disrupts bonfire night and Halloween.

Essentially “you don’t need fireworks because we’ve got them for you”.

Additionally, it’s a crowd pleaser, people still want to attend these events, to bring their children and recreate memories from their own youth.

And there is such huge scope for innovation in fireworks displays these days that should excite local authorities.

Almost everyone is now aware the distress fireworks can cause to animals, councils could ensure their display is a noiseless affair.

Jenna with daughters Holly (7) and Chloe (8) from Perth. Image: Steve MacDougall/DC Thomson

Or if they wanted to go further, high-tech drone displays are capable of creating jaw-dropping spectacles in the air, perhaps floating somewhere over the Tay.

The possibilities are there – but councils must take control of the official events first.

Otherwise, they run the risk of gunpowder treason quickly being forgotten.

Conversation