Belgarum Estate Agents were proud to continue our ongoing support of one of Hampshire's greatest fireworks events of the year. Not only were we able to sponsor the event but several members of the team popped their wellies and hi-vis jackets on to get involved by volunteering on the night.
As a member of Winchester Round Table, Belgarum's MD John Leeson is part of the team which builds the bonfire on the day before the show. For the second year running this has been in miserable conditions of rain and wind. We were positive that the weather forecast for the event on Saturday night were going to be correct and in good form the rain ceased around 3pm so it was safe for the crowds to come out without getting drenched.
Winchester bonfire and fireworks is a charity event and there's a lot of hard work put in by the local community and especially by all at Winchester Round Table. Saturday was a mad dash for most of the Round Table members and also Belgarum director Alex Lambourne who helps out each year in getting all the final preparations organised ready for the evening’s entertainment.
This year Belgarum staff were able to help in the merchandise team. Donna, Seanne, Paul, Becky, Olivia as well as Alex were put into teams of 2 along with a 3rd team member which were fellow Round Table members who had come to help all the way from Holland. They were great additions to our sales teams and it's wonderful that this organisation for professional men has so many dedicated people from around the world who want to come from far afield to help with our community event.
With a trolley full of merchandise each, we took to Winchester High Street in our teams. Given that over half of the Belgarum staff are from the sales team, as you can imagine there was quite a bit of competitiveness amongst the teams! All of the sales made raise money directly for charity. One of the charities funds were being raised for was Trinity Winchester who are also Belgarum's charity of the year for 2015 so this connection spurred us on even more to sell as much stock as we could.
Flashing bunny ears were a particular favourite amongst staff as well as the crowds. Olivia was proudly wearing a pair to promote them but this obviously proved too popular with the general public as in the end Becky ended up selling the pair from Olivia's head (much to her disappointment!). Glow sticks, flashing swords and wands were also popular gimmicks to take along to the fireworks display but the biggest seller was clearly the wax torches which are a significant feature of the big procession.
The procession itself was largely attended as always. It commences at King Alfred's statue in The Broadway and it was brilliant to be amongst the atmosphere of crowds in the build up to the procession. As predicted the rain stayed away and it was also a mild night which was pleasant (although this could have been from all the heat of the swarms of lit torches?!) The traditional marching band created an air of excitement as the crowds waited for the procession to commence. As the start of the procession made its way up the High Street, everyone followed in suit and then followed onto Jewry Street before moving onto North Walls and onto the main site ready for the bonfire to be lit.
As we neared the bottom of our trollies we sold up most of our merchandise, returned the leftovers back to base, handed over our sales monies and made our way with the crowds to North Walls. The bonfire had already been lit by the time we arrived but the glowing flames looked extraordinary against the black skies. We settled in to a free space on the playing fields (I think Donna regretted not wearing wellies given the wet weather had made the grass somewhat muddy in places!) and joined in the countdown ready to view the fireworks. The fireworks were impressive as always and we tried to capture the big ones on camera and video. This is typical of smartphone users that sometimes you spend too much time behind the camera device and forget to enjoy the live event. So with cameras away we got fully absorbed in enjoying watching the display and the finale was absolutely amazing. In hindsight that was the section we should have got on film but c'est la vie! Most of us agreed that the fireworks were in fact the best display to date.
Winchester is a beautiful city (yes we are a little biased) but our Dutch guests had to agree. The bonfire and fireworks is a wonderful community event and we are grateful to Winchester Round Table members - from near and far - who continue to arrange and organise it in their spare time as volunteers. This makes it easy for us as sponsors to want to volunteer our time on the night as well. And with 100% of profits going to local charities and good causes it really is a great event to support.
We can't wait until next year's event! In the meantime we look forward to meeting our new reindeer which has been donated by Belgarum for the Winchester Santa Sleigh - you can meet him tonight at the Christmas Lights Switch On. Or pop your TV onto BBC1 at 7.00pm to see Winchester's Switch On live on The One Show with Matt Baker.
