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The following year (1890) an even bigger bonfire was built using sticks and gorse from the Loxton estate. It was topped with a flag made of a red and a white handkerchief tied up with a bootlace. It was supposed to represent the ‘Union Jack of Old England’. The whole structure was covered in tar. Guns were fired at 6-30 p.m. to signal that the festivities were about to begin and the villagers and several visitors from East Brent, North Yeo, Christon, Compton Bishop and Shiplett climbed up the hill to enjoy the fun. Again squibs and crackers were the chosen fireworks, the squibs being thrown by the women at the men. One man was burnt about the face and another accidentally swallowed some sparks off the bonfire. Two other men had their breeches burned at the back, and were seen wearing their best ‘town-going’ trousers the following day. Several ladies also caught fire but the flames were eventually extinguished with no harm done.
The ‘guy’ had no face and was made of hay and dressed in a hat, a white cravat and the linings of a pair of trousers. The young man who had hammered the anvil in the previous year provided the music playing a wheezy concertina and led the dancing until eleven o’clock. One man sang about twenty songs drinking very mild cider between each one. Some of the songs were incomprehensible but the most memorable were ‘Over the Garden Wall’, ‘My Old Woman and I’ and ‘When the Cows go Dry’. Another man, with a severe cold started to sing ‘The Union Jack of Old England’ but could not get any further than the second verse. Sadly Mr. William Avery was elsewhere at a dinner party so was unable to finish the song he started the previous year. The ‘roast’ potatoes were hot but not cooked. The young man who had taken the unburned logs in the previous year was allowed to carry them away in return for his services in looking after the cider pail and the hot potatoes. The evening closed with a hearty cheering but the church bells were not rung this year.
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