Bonfire in balbriggan

illuminated

I am wondering what peoples opinions are in the bonfire in the field next to the graveyard.I know it blew up last year but I think it's great to have a bonfire and hope they can do it again??
Also I have heard the council and gardai cannot do anything as the land is private but the owner cannot be found and theirfore no way to stop the bonfire would this be true??

cathy01

Gardi can stop it owner or no owner.
My opinion is i hate them ,as a mam.but kids will be kids and its tradition .i used to bring t kids down to look at it.i didn't let them down by themselves .or hang out drunk around them till stupid o'clock . I think it's either time the council did one ,which will never happen or just accept this will happen.the clean up costs are huge ,the danger to life huge but honestly there really is nothing that anyone can do.tradition!

CorsendonkX

cathy01 wrote: »

Gardi can stop it owner or no owner.
My opinion is i hate them ,as a mam.but kids will be kids and its tradition .i used to bring t kids down to look at it.i didn't let them down by themselves .or hang out drunk around them till stupid o'clock . I think it's either time the council did one ,which will never happen or just accept this will happen.the clean up costs are huge ,the danger to life huge but honestly there really is nothing that anyone can do.tradition!

Traditions get overturned all the time Cathy, it was tradition for women to stay at home but that tradition was overturned. People just use tradition as an excuse for stupidity or laziness IMHO. Anyway it's hardly that long of a tradition to have a bonfire on that spot and allow drunken teenagers to hang about.

Should be banned if not already in Fingal.

• They pollute the local environment, the same people that protest about brain cancers from electric waves are happy to see their kids stand around a bonfire that is pumping out god knows what carcinogens into the air that the kids are breathing.
• Costs a fortune to clean up the mess.
• Waste Fire Service time.
• Attracts anti-social behaviour especially when drink is taken.
• Cheapskates abuse them by throwing household waste on them.
• Items that can be recycled are often burned.
• Lastly very often the pallets used are actually the property of logistics companies like CHEP so it's destruction of property.

What's good about them?

cathy01

CorsendonkX wrote: »

Traditions get overturned all the time Cathy, it was tradition for women to stay at home but that tradition was overturned. People just use tradition as an excuse for stupidity or laziness IMHO. Anyway it's hardly that long of a tradition to have a bonfire on that spot and allow drunken teenagers to hang about.

Should be banned if not already in Fingal.

• They pollute the local environment, the same people that protest about brain cancers from electric waves are happy to see their kids stand around a bonfire that is pumping out god knows what carcinogens into the air that the kids are breathing.
• Costs a fortune to clean up the mess.
• Waste Fire Service time.
• Attracts anti-social behaviour especially when drink is taken.
• Cheapskates abuse them by throwing household waste on them.
• Items that can be recycled are often burned.
• Lastly very often the pallets used are actually the property of logistics companies like CHEP so it's destruction of property.

What's good about them?

Nothings Good about them.
I just think Fingal have been trying to stop them since I was a kid which is about 21 and a bit years ago.
Where it is . is horrible. All they can do is remove the items the day of the bonfire. Thats all Gardi cant really do much with the younger kids who attend out of interest but the older Drunks, should be locked up. For their own safety. Stupid things happen to stupid people , esp when drunk.Ad a large fire and you have trouble.
Last year my sons friend found a cat, melted into a plastic bag on the beach near the bonfire .
Sick.
I think Fingal coco try and fund other activites for the younger kids, through the youth services. But to be honest its the older kids drinking and getting into trouble that is cause of concern.

CorsendonkX

cathy01 wrote: »

Nothings Good about them.
I just think Fingal have been trying to stop them since I was a kid which is about 21 and a bit years ago.
Where it is . is horrible. All they can do is remove the items the day of the bonfire. Thats all Gardi cant really do much with the younger kids who attend out of interest but the older Drunks, should be locked up. For their own safety. Stupid things happen to stupid people , esp when drunk.Ad a large fire and you have trouble.
Last year my sons friend found a cat, melted into a plastic bag on the beach near the bonfire .
Sick.
I think Fingal coco try and fund other activites for the younger kids, through the youth services. But to be honest its the older kids drinking and getting into trouble that is cause of concern.

Where are the parents? The social responsibility rests with the parents not the council or garda.

cathy01

CorsendonkX wrote: »

Where are the parents? The social responsibility rests with the parents not the council or garda.

Its always easy to blame the parents. Some of these drinking are over 18.

Morpheus

When I was young EVERY estate in the town had one, Pinewood and Bathroad were usually the largest by far.

I always helped assemble one each year as a kid I grew up beside the graveyard
Parents used to get involved around the last day, in helping us and this was the late eighties early nineties.

It was well run and some folks would have organised fireworks, indeed my own father welded together a launch platform that anyone could used to fire rockets off, he took it up every halloween and set it up on the soccer pitch.

The bonfire was lit where the road is now, this was then a strip of wasteland running along the side of the graveyard. The bonfire would be near the large trees on the left of the graveyard as you look at it from harry reynolds road, not far from the field that is used now.

no cans or tins or any potentially explosive items were allowed

the odd bit of old furniture went in, some tyres (very toxic though) and mostly pallets and bits of odds and ends, wood only.

we would build a trolley ourselves and knock door to door in the estate asking for old wood etc.

The older boys would build it and some fathers would help out

on halloween, the kids would trick or treat and everyone knew that at say 9pm, the bonfire would be lit.

At this point everyone would go up and watch as it was lit and then parents / kids would take turns launching rockets, lighting bullrushes (taken from a nearby lake / riverbank and dipped in petrol) and lighting sparklers.

by 11 everyone would be gone, sometimes the Firebrigade would stop by and ensure it wasnt overly huge or out of hand once I remember them putting it out and nobody complained as it was blazing quite fiercly.

This was a long time ago, times were and families were different. Kids (teenagers under 18 were still classed as irresponsible adolecents!) were managed and watched, but the result was a very enjoyable and still to this day for many of my hometown friends, a very memorable night.

as we got older, things changed however. people started deliberately throwing bangers and spray cans in as the fire was burning, people and youths started drinking and would gather there even though they werent from the area. Other youths from different estates were starting to rob items from our bonfire for theirs, this resulted in practically gang fights between estates!

then it became a problem as the road was opened and smoke obscured it, and also fireworks were deliberately launched at passing vehicles. As anti social behaviour increased it became a night to stay indoors and to lock up animals.

At this point Id long stopped being involved and my own family began to hate what HAD been one of the highlights of the year for us.

Now I regret to say that the time for these has long since passed and it shouldnt be condoned.

What could be looked at is a large community run single bonfire held somewhere safe. Obvious the problem is that for all intents and purposes, this would most likely be illegal.

For the kids growing up today its a shame, I will always keep those magical nights in my childs memory and pity that things have become so stupid and downright disrespectful that my own kids when I have any, wont be able to enjoy the same feelings and sights.

I hope this is stopped as it has been taken over by scroats with nothing better to do than cause mayhem with anti solcial behavior, drink and most likely drugs and no concern for their own personal safety nor that of others.

On a point about parents....

If 90% of parents raised their kids right, taught them about law, respect and personal behavior, then 90% of these incidents wouldn't occur. When people make decisions, whether to do something bad, drink, drugs, robbery etc most of their decisions are based on their life experiences to date. The most influential people in your life to that point SHOULD be your parents and what theyve taught you and how you were raised. This is where society is falling down in my opinion. Some people will inherently do bad regardless of raising etc but if some parents made a bigger effort to control their kids when they are younger, then when they get older, they should have the correct tools to know right from wrong and which to choose. Up to a certain point, medical / psy conditions aside, it is ALWAYS the parents fault. Who else can you blame!?

regards
Morph

tatli_lokma

Very well said Morph.

And as for being over 18, since when did that mean your parents no longer have any responsibility to carry? As Morph says, learning social responsibility starts much younger. If done right by the time someone is 18 they will have some concept of social responsibility and cop on. That's not to say they won't do stupid things, we all did and still do. But the basic values you learn at home means that if an adult or other figure of authority pulls you up on something, your first reaction isn't to jump to the defensive and get all aggro.

Even at 21 if my parents heard I was acting the dick at a bonfire and potentially putting people or myself in danger I can guarantee you I wouldn't have gotten away with it, legal adult or not.

When I was 18 we used to surreptitiously have a few gargles at the bonfire, but had the cop on and consideration to be discreet about it. If a parent had seen you swigging beer or acting the maggot you would have been told to wind your neck in and you would have complied.

This is the thing that so saddens me about the more recent trends in parenting. Always seems to be about the easy life for the parents, shirking responsibility onto others like the schools or police and never putting in the tough love because it's too hard and takes determination.

I know not all parents are like this, but far too many are and it is a shame for our future generations as it is doing them no favours to grow up thinking they have a God given right to do as they please and no one has the right to question them on it or admonish them for it.

JohnnieK

I used to love the bonfires. In my estate there was two. One at the top and one at the bottom. The top one was run by a neighbour and he ran a tight ship big time. NO DRINK what so ever. He stayed out until it went out and fair play to him.

The bottom one on the other hand was set up by the gob****es in the area and all sorts went on.

Like everything else its good when done right and terrible when it's hijacked.

robertpatterson

An ideal place to have it is on the beach
The tide dictates the time it finishes and washes and waste to sea
Theres no scorch marks and most beaches aren't surrounded by houses

fergal.b

robertpatterson wrote: »

An ideal place to have it is on the beach
The tide dictates the time it finishes and washes and waste to sea
Theres no scorch marks and most beaches aren't surrounded by houses

Maybe if it was a clean wood fire with no nails,plastic,rubber, metal,glass,polystyrene,oil or chemicals but somehow I don't think that will happen and whats washed away will end up somewhere like here "Not for the faint hearted" http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1I7on22jA48



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tatli_lokma

robertpatterson wrote: »

An ideal place to have it is on the beach
The tide dictates the time it finishes and washes and waste to sea
Theres no scorch marks and most beaches aren't surrounded by houses

because our sea water is just not quite dirty enough from the sh*te that flows over from Skerries!

illuminated

in respose to everyone,i was at the bonfire and i didnt think it was to bad,It was mainly pallets as far as i remeber and i beileve the problem was the petrol.Their was obviously drinking but it wasnt hostile i was fairly cool untill the garda decided to shut it down.

robertpatterson

So would you rather scorched marks on pieces of green field sites all over the place cos theyre gonna take place no matter what some people want
A reasonably organized one on the beach is a better idea the tide will ensure that it wont go on too long unless people like getting their ankles wet

fergal.b

robertpatterson wrote: »

So would you rather scorched marks on pieces of green field sites all over the place cos theyre gonna take place no matter what some people want
A reasonably organized one on the beach is a better idea the tide will ensure that it wont go on too long unless people like getting their ankles wet

High tide for halloween is about ten past nine so it definitely won't go on too long



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giant_midget

Bonfires in the field behind Tara Cove (now a business park) used to be great, That was about 1990 ish...good times...:)

cathy01

Guys, I found out yesterday that last year the Tidy towns had to pay nearly €1000 to clean up after the bonfire beside the Graveyard.

€1000 , think how many better ways that could be spent.

Someone should just do one, if its going to happen and look after it and supervise it.
A lot of the comments above seem to suggest that it was at one time a community event ,run by adults , supervised by the community and enjoyed by the community.

I have no energy to start coming up with ideas.
But maybe other Boardis could.

Morpheus

The estate residents group cleaned up after the tara court bonfire, not immediately, but usually a couple of days later, one of the residents had a tractor and trailer as he worked on contract for the council cleaning the beaches etc and the group would meet up and load the remaining junk, ash, burnt wood, tyre metal coils, etc into his trailer and he would dump it, im sure they paid the fee for dumping general waste, but it hardly cost 1000 euro, volunteers did the work and the money for the dumping probably came from residents pockets.

Also it was built on waste ground (where the harry reynolds road is now) each halloween it was built on the same exact spot as the previous year.

Although I can believe the council would pay 1000, petrol, staff wages, dumping, cleaning the ground etc.

cathy01

Morpheus wrote: »

The estate residents group cleaned up after the tara court bonfire, not immediately, but usually a couple of days later, one of the residents had a tractor and trailer as he worked on contract for the council cleaning the beaches etc and the group would meet up and load the remaining junk, ash, burnt wood, tyre metal coils, etc into his trailer and he would dump it, im sure they paid the fee for dumping general waste, but it hardly cost 1000 euro, volunteers did the work and the money for the dumping probably came from residents pockets.

Also it was built on waste ground (where the harry reynolds road is now) each halloween it was built on the same exact spot as the previous year.

Although I can believe the council would pay 1000, petrol, staff wages, dumping, cleaning the ground etc.

I don't know that's just what I was told.i suppose if you costed everyone's time that volunteered it could that and more.