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Firey Friary!


photo: Lauren Straker


Last Saturday saw Friary march through the streets of Lewes, East Sussex to entertain the crowds taking part in the famous annual Bonfire Night celebrations.  Said to be the largest of its kind in the UK, the event not only marks the Gunpowder Plot but also the martyrdom of 17 Protestants some 50 years earlier.  Tens of thousands enjoy the spectacle.


The Band played various sets from dusk till after midnight, marching up and down the hilly streets, surrounded by the revellers.  A particular favourite was Sussex by the Sea, said to have been inspired from the poem Sussex by Rudyard Kipling, and adopted as the unofficial anthem of the county and also by nearby Brighton and Hove Albion FC.


This was certainly a novel experience!  It was absolutely crazy: huge crowds, flaming banners, firecrackers, and a real marathon of marching!  Luckily the forecast rain didn’t all materialise, and at least all the fire around us kept us warm!’

Friary Secretary Lauren Straker explained: ‘This was certainly a novel experience!  It was absolutely crazy: huge crowds, flaming banners, firecrackers, and a real marathon of marching!  Luckily the forecast rain didn’t all materialise, and at least all the fire around us kept us warm!’  ‘And we’ve already been invited back next year,’ she added.







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