After the last minute change of plan due to the weather, which was especially kind to us tonight, the bonfire celebrations went off with a number of spectacularly loud bangs courtesy of a guy called Chris Moore. Chris has sailed a couple of times at RNYC this year and when he heard about our bonfire on the beach, offered to do the fireworks. I think I can safely say its the best display we've had – thanks Chris.
Of course none of this would have been possible without the volunteers who built the bonfire. Special thanks to Garry Robson, who changed his shifts at work for the weekend in order to help, just for me to change the day of the bonfire, he still turned up this morning before work to drive the tractor for us. I suppose I should also mention Alan Dewar, even if all he did was drive his quad bike around all day and not give anyone else a go. But then again it was his birthday today so maybe we should just let him play. Seriously though we could have never managed without him towing trailer loads of timber across the beach. And of course to the rest of you who dragged, carried or otherwise hauled the wood for what must have been the biggest bonfire we have seen on the beach. It was still burning well when I left the Club at 9.00pm.
After the bonfire & fireworks we all went back the the Club ship where Karen and her team of pink ladies had prepared a wonderful leek & potato soup as well as the usual hotdogs.
A tombola raised a further £108 to add to the sum we will be donating to the 'Friends of Oliver' charity.
Thanks once again to all of you who worked to make the event happen, and to those of you who turned up to watch and therefore make it all worthwhile.
** Oh I forgot to mention that the best 'Bonfire Guy' competition was won by Mike Swann, who looked slightly better than the bunch of stuffed old clothes tied up with string he brought to put on the fire. Well done Mike and thanks to club member Rob Storrar of Storrar Marine for providing the binoculars as a prize.
Paul Common
