Bonfire Night On A Sunday

[dave50]

I'm sure when I was a young lad, it wasn't the done thing to celebrate Guy Fawkes night on a Sunday. Is anyone else aware of this?

[ludwig]

As far as I can remember it was always November 5th, irrespective of what day of the week it was.

[Islay]

I agree with lidwig

[Ken4155]

Always been on whatever day the 5th falls on, as far as i can recall?

[hc4361]

All the big council firework displays were on Saturday when I was little and it's still the case here, even when the 5th falls on a Friday or Sunday.
We've always had our own little garden celebration on the 5th whatever day of the week it is

[Ken4155]

Yes, organised bonfires are usually on the Sat night if 5th is a Sunday, but private bonfires are whenever people see fit.

[woofgang]

I can remember that when I was a kid in London, most people wouldn't celebrate Fireworks Night on a Sunday.....equally if it was your birthday on a sunday and you were having a party (children) you would have it on the saturday

[dave50]

I thought it was something to with the religious aspect why I thought it was never done on a Sunday, same as the shops being closed and also I remember fish & chip shops not being allowed to open but you could get them from a Chinese takeaway for some reason.

[Islay]

I think fish and chip shops didn't open on a sunday because the fisherman didn't go out on a sunday so the fish wasn't fresh.
At least that's the way it was on the east coast of Scotland.

[Jackdaw33]

I was thinking the same as dave50 but feared I had false memory syndrome. I'm almost sure that when it fell on a Sunday we celebrated on the Saturday. I'm going back to the early 50s.

[Jackdaw33]

As for chippies, they were governed by strict law. They could open only two lunchtimes per week: Friday (for the RCs) and Saturday (because mother was too busy preparing Sunday lunch to cook). They could open for a few hours each evening but not on Sunday. When Chinese takeaways came about you had the anomaly of buying a curry but you couldn't buy fish and chips. Even the foreign takeaways were not allowed to sell them.

[Old_Geezer]

I agree with lidwig too.

I don't recall large exhibitions as a kid. It was always a family commemoration. The massive displays on the wrong day is a more recent thing.

(If "they" can hold Bonfire Night on the wrong day how long before "they" start moving Xmas or Easter ?)

[woofgang]

I can remember that big displays were so unusual that they would be televised and would be popular to watch

[New Judge]

No you did not let off your own fireworks in the back garden on the 5th if it was a Sunday.

Fish & Chip shops were not allowed to open on a Sunday because they were specifically mentioned as an outlet type which was prevented from opening under the Sunday Trading Laws. Chinese takeaways were not specifically mentioned (because they did not exist when the law was passed) and so could open on a Sunday. Most did and many of them sold fish & chips.

They already "move" Easter, every year, OG. It is the original "moveable feast".

[Flonska]

Hence, NJ, the trick was to find a chinese takeaway that was open on Sunday 5th November and as well as fish and chips, they would sell you some fireworks! Not easy, especially when trying to order extra "lockets," "clackers," "loman canders," and "catheline wheers"as the menu only went as far as 99 = egg fried rice. We could also never figure out why a pancake roll nailed to the fence would not do anything when we lit what we thought was the fuse? (turned out -actually - to be a stray beansprout!!).