GUY FAWKES’ NIGHT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19777, 3 November 1938, Page 6

GUY FAWKES’ NIGHT

BEACH ENTERTAINMENT

F 11; E\VORKS AND ( 0X( ’RUT 1 ’,().\l’Tß E COMPETITIONS It has been estimated that 4000 people congregated at Waikanae Beach on Guy Fawkes’ Night last year. Business men united to provide material for the bonfires which were a feature of the carnival organised by the Gisborne Thirty-Thousand Thousand Club, and the display of fireworks, also arranged by the club in conjunction with the Waikanae Beach Improvement Society, provided an outstanding attraction.

There were drawbacks to the entertainment last year, however, principally in connection with the promenade' lighting and the period of the entertainment. The Thirty Thousand Club has taken steps to remove these handicaps, in anticipation of an even greater success this year. Guy Fawkes’ Night, 1938, should set a new high mark in public entertainment records for the district.

Lack of finance, which hampered the club last year, is not so much felt this season, and the increasing confidence of the public in the club’s work has been demonstrated amply by the offers of assistance received. The Waikanae park has been transformed in recent months, and now offers a splendid background to fetes of the description planned by the club for Saturday evening next.

It was intended to open the festivities by staging an aquatic display at the sea end of the diversion cut, but this plan has been abandoned, owing to the newly-levelled ground in that locality being likely to suffer damage, while the safety of the extensive plantation near the cut has also had to be considered. Rowing clubs and other organisations, which had offered their co-operation, have received the thanks of the club, and have intimated that they will renew their offers next year.

The lighting of the beach and the concrete promenade will show a great improvement this year, and the entertainment programme will be bigger and better than last season. An area will be marked out on the beach for the location of individual bonfires, by family groups, and the public is invited to co-operate by confining the discharge of fireworks to the beach itself. Prizes will be awarded for the best bonfire and Guy Fawkes efforts, and the programme will include selections by several concert parties, which will be heard from a platform adjacent to the tennis courts. The W.E.C.M.R. Band will be on parade, and will use the new platform for the first time on Saturday evening.

Weather indications are favourable, and it is anticipated confidently that a large proportion of Gisborne’s population will assemble at the beach for the 1938 celebration of the Guy Fawkes anniversary.