5th November 2006. The society marched with 150 members joining the united grand in our own right. 700 torches made. The society remembered the battle of the Somme with detail to the men of Southover, the Royal Sussex regiment and the 36th Ulster division. Effigies of the guy and pope dispatched with black powder and fire on last procession.

5th November 2007. The society marched with over 200 members. 900 torches made. Processions expanding. Fire site acquired. Are we running before we can walk…? No! Forty ft high bonfire and without a doubt the best firework display seen in Lewes for decades (check out you tube southover finale 07). The society remembers the Falkland’s war and the Finnish prisoners of the Crimean war. Fantastic year.

5th November 2008. The society marched with just over 300 members. 1400 torches made. The society remembered the men shot at dawn 1914 -1918. Poppies to be carried from this year onwards. Wet weather throughout the day was to cause minor problems and some vital lessons in the art of bonfire were learnt. This year also saw the society’s first tablaux expertly crafted by Rob Phillips and team. The pyrotechnics crew pumped up yet another fantastic aerial display.

OCTOBER 2009
Southover Bonfire Society is now acknowledged as the fastest growing society in Sussex - membership is already past the 400 mark. This year will see the society reclaim the last but one of its original procession routes and the tradition of marking the boundaries between the town of Lewes and the village of the Cliffe. At 17:00 on the 5th the society will carry a flaming hogshead barrel to the Cliffe bridge, where the bonfire prayers will be recited and the barrel cast into the Ouse. This year sees us leading the united grand procession for the first time;. The society remembers and pays tribute to all who were lost with the sinking of  the HMS ROYAL OAK in 1939. The society will also be honouring all that have made the ultimate sacrifice with the introduction of poppies bearing the dates 1914-2009. Our fire site tickets remain at £5.00 and can be purchased at entrance - well worth it as the tableaux team have built unarguably the largest to have been fired on the 5th in known history.

Matt Street