Hundreds attend first public bonfire night for scouts roof appeal

ABOUT 400 people attended a Scouts bonfire night in Henley.

This was the first time the event, held at Borlase Field next to Henley Rugby Club last Friday, was opened to the wider public.

The evening began with the cubs and beavers being given a talk about the history of bonfire night and Guy Fawkes.

The children then judged the best effigies by cheering for their favourite. The winner was a Lego Guy Fawkes made by Zara Maloney, 10, and her brother Arlen, eight.

They made a strawman and dressed it in a fireproof suit and used a yellow paper bag which they painted a face on to look like a Lego man.

The evening also featured scout games, food and sparklers. Parents sat talking around the bonfire while children played together and danced to music at a disco they had set up.

Iain Montgomery, 47, of Elizabeth Road, said: “It is a good local event and I think for the children it’s nicer for them that there are not any fireworks. As the event starts to gather momentum, you will see more people coming in the future years.”

Carola Hillenbrand, 48, of St Mark’s Road, came with her two sons Noah Money, eight, and Timo, six. She said: “We love it. The event is really intimate and family friendly and great for the kids. There’s a bonfire for them and they can run around and play games in the field.”

Lisa Heseltine, 45, of Greys Hill, said: “I am glad there is another local bonfire as we always used to go to another one in Henley, which was fantastic, but that stopped a few years ago.

“Normally we would go to Cookham, which is quite a drive, so to be able to walk to this event is wonderful. We saw it mentioned in the Henley Standard so we thought we would come.”

Rhidian Williams, who helped organise the event, said: “We felt it went very well. It was not an enormous number of people but it was a wonderful family event and we are very happy with how it turned out.

“The bonfire slowly burned down, kids ran around in the field and we wrapped it up at about 9pm. We played traditional scouts’ games that are anything from relay to capture the flag. We have a long-term plan to try to renew the scout hut that will take fundraising over several years.

“Events like this are the really early bits of fundraising and will help pay for some of the planning to get into the next steps of fundraising from various different bodies. The night for fundraising was quite successful.” The 1st Henley scouts are one of the oldest scout groups in the world, having been formed in 1908 and running continuously ever since. They meet at the scout hut in Greys Road and have been granted an extension on their lease until 2049.

The building, which was built in 1971, needs a new roof as well as a new kitchen and toilet as the existing facilities are not up to modern standards.

The roof was repaired 28 years ago and windows replaced in 2012 when the hut was also rewired.

In June the Henley Standard reported that the group needed about £250,000 for repairs to its building.