Long Wittenham, Oxfordshire

Emma Newman writes …

It takes a village to make a successful bonfire night … and somebody to bring them all together!

As the nights draw in and the weather turns to Autumn, we are working behind the scenes to bring you another fabulous bonfire night, back at its old home on Ward’s Field.

This is my sixth year of organising this event and we are looking for somebody to take on this role from next year.

If you’ve ever fancied turning your hand to event management on a small scale, this is a perfect opportunity.  We have an amazing team of helpers who step forward year after year to bring this event to the village, but it needs somebody (or a small team) to coordinate.

Key responsibilities include:

• Marketing – designing posters, arranging printing, organising for these to go up around the village, sending emails with event info to village, providing information to The Bridge / LWPC for local advertising;
• Ticketing – providing event information to the online ticketing agency and liaising with them in the lead up and post-event;
• Coordination of volunteer teams – for set up and take down, wood collection, bonfire building, BBQ, Bar, Sweet Treats, Guy Fawkes competition, marshals, first aid, finance and not forgetting volunteer refreshments;
• Overseeing safety – Updating risk assessment and ensuring safety procedures are followed during set up, the event itself and take down;
• Communication – contacting residents / farmer in vicinity in advance with information about the event, as well as local emergency services;
• Sourcing equipment for the event and organising their collection and return;
• Liaison with LWPC / fireworks company in lead up to event;
• Post-event write up, reimbursement of expenses, distribution of profits.

Most of the work needs to take place in September and October, but we have really good systems set up to help things go smoothly.  It’s also enormously rewarding and a brilliant way to get to know some truly lovely people in our village.  And when it all comes together on the day itself and you look around at the happy smiling faces, tucking into burgers and mulled wine, glowing in the light of the beautiful, blazing bonfire, waiting for the pretty spectacular fireworks to go off, there is no better feeling!

This would suit somebody looking to get more involved in village life or a small team or organisation who would like to manage this between them.  Many hands make light work and there will always be plenty of people to step up and take on some of the load, but it does need a dedicated communicator with good organisational skills to bring it all together.

If you would like to find out more, please do get in touch.

Emma: 07765 676765 / lwbonfire@gmail.com