Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been poking fun at infamous celebrities for over 30 years
This year’s Edenbridge Bonfire Society effigy has been announced as FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Edenbridge Bonfire Society has been poking fun at infamous celebrities for over 30 years. Past targets have included a real mixture of characters including Ticketmaster, Sadiq Khan/ULEZ, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson, Donald Trump, Katie Hopkins, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross, Katie Price, Lance Armstrong, and even Sadam Hussein.
Last year the effigy took the form of Sir Keir Starmer following public despair of many of his decisions made during his time as Prime Minister, especially those affecting local farming communities of which Edenbridge is one of.
This year’s hotly anticipated effigy is Gianni Infantino. The FIFA President is widely disliked by fans, players, and major football confederations due to his controversial commercial moves, and cozy relationships with political figures.
About Edenbridge Bonfire Night
This is the biggest event in the Edenbridge calendar and very much more than simply a local firework event. Over 10,000 people attend this annual family event, travelling in from London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent.
Organised by a team of local volunteers, the evening begins at 6.30pm with a torch-lit carnival procession through Edenbridge High Street. As local tradition dictates, this will be led by the Bishop of the Bonfire, his choirboys and the Society’s effigies. The Bishop will be joined in the procession by brightly lit carnival floats, costumed walking parties and marching bands.
The evening culminates at the local recreation ground with a spectacular, professional firework display, with the giant effigies taking centre stage.
Local residents and businesses will be in party mood all day and ready to receive the huge influx of visitors that are expected.
More details can be found on the Society website www.edenbridgebonfire.co.uk
About Edenbridge Bonfire Society
Edenbridge Bonfire Society is a ‘not for profit’ organisation and has been in existence for nearly 100 years. Its aim is to use the bonfire night celebrations to raise more than £5,000 for deserving local charities.
The Society is indebted to the many local businesses that sponsor the event each year, enabling it to pay the essential but ever-increasing costs of signage, crowd barriers, security, first aid and other facilities, making this without doubt the very best value public firework display in the region.
The Society has unearthed records reaching all the way back to the town’s bonfire event in 1928 but the tradition of celebrating bonfire night obviously dates back very much further. Winston Churchill, whose Chartwell home is five miles away, was one of the famous figures who has opened the town’s bonfire night celebrations.
The annual event has become famous in the national media (there are Pathé News clips of the event dating from the 1950s) and the Society and its members has been featured in the media many times across the world.
It takes a team of well over 100 to stage the bonfire event and nearly all of these are local volunteers. The Edenbridge team is very experienced and looks to maintain the highest safety standards, bringing in professional organisations for security, first aid, and to handle the many thousands of pounds worth of fireworks which are used in the display.
Website: www.edenbridgebonfire.co.uk
Instagram: Edenbridge Bonfire Society
