“Remember, remember the 5th November!” is the rhyme I learnt as a child, to ensure that I would never forget the date of Bonfire Night. 

Back then, my parents would take my brothers and me along to one of the local displays in the grounds of the Broadlands Estate or perhaps Halterworth school, to be wowed by the dazzling lights, crackles, pops and bangs of the fireworks and warmed by the heat and glow of a raging fire, upon which sat the figure of a man wearing a rather large brimmed hat.

As all school children do, I learnt that we mark the 5th November to celebrate the failed Gunpowder Plot, in which a group of Catholic plotters attempted to blow up Parliament and King James I along with it. 

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Had the plot been successful, the course of British history may well have been very different. The fire of religious war would have almost certainly consumed the country. 

What local residents may not know is that the gunpowder used by Guido (Guy) Fawkes and the plotters, was most probably supplied by John Pain, the founder of local business Pains Fireworks in Whiteparish. 

The Gunpowder Plot itself was part of a greater unrest in the country at the time. Like almost all of Europe, 16th century England was a Catholic country, until Henry VIII broke with Rome in 1534 declaring himself and his heirs Supreme Head of the Church of England. All this to facilitate his various divorces and marital requirements. 

The break with the Catholic church and the subsequent rise of Protestantism in England would go on to lead to centuries of unrest, conflict and suffering in this country and across Europe. However, over time the two faiths learnt to live together in peace, to understand and respect each other and ultimately live (more or less) in harmony with one another.

It took many centuries, and as recently as the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, it took dialogue, negotiation and brave individuals to turn away from what had gone before and instead look to the future, to find a path to peace. 

This Bonfire Night let us remember what this country has been through and be thankful for the peace in our land. Let us also hope that the flames that now consume others, can be extinguished and their path to peace found. 

Geoff Cooper,
Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Romsey and Southampton North