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Brunel's fireworks night alight with community spirit

Thousands of people headed to Brunel University London for its seventh annual fireworks event on Thursday, 5 November. Members of the local community joined staff and students for a great night of celebrations, anticipating Brunel’s 50th anniversary in 2016.

As the rain cleared, the smell of hot dogs and candyfloss filled the air and warmed the crowd up for the spectacular fireworks display to come. There was something for everyone, from a rodeo bull, a bouncy castle and gladiator jousts to stalls showing the range of activities at the University. Children had a great time meeting Mr Brunel the statue man, and families grabbed the opportunity to take a picture with the University’s namesake.  

 Pro-Vice Chancellor Dany Nobus was delighted to see so many people on campus and said: “Our annual fireworks event is a wonderful way to invite the local community to celebrate bonfire night and to engage with our 50th anniversary programme. It was great to see so many children and families finding out more about our University and having fun on campus. We work hard to ensure the University is in harmony with the community surrounding it and we value local support.”

The bonfire was lit by Union of Brunel Students president Ali Milani, who thanked the clubs and societies running activities at the event and also commented on how wonderful it was to open up campus to the local community.

Capturing this feel of community spirit was the Guy which sat on top of Brunel’s bonfire, which had been built by 70 children from The John Locke Academy in Uxbridge. Paul Bridge, Associate Director of Recruitment and Admissions explained: “Staff from the Academy had approached us with the idea for Reception children to build the Guy as part of their hands on, collaborative and creative approach to learning. We are always keen to work with local schools and so were delighted to set them this challenge.”

Vice-Principal of the Academy Ms Roebuck continued: “So much fun and learning came from this challenge; building this Guy sparked lots of excitement, teamwork and communication. They were real “collaborate-a-dons!” During the afternoon it took to build the Guy, we had conversations about Guy Fawkes and the traditions of Bonfire Night, the shape of Guy’s hat, second hand clothing, hand-me-downs and even clothes’ banks. The children were enthused and engaged and the teachers have also been able to reminisce about their memories of bonfire night and to share these with the children. We hope lots of people enjoyed seeing the Guy take pride of place on the bonfire.”

Brunel  has lots of events planned that local people can take part in, such as our debate on the welfare state on 23 November with Katie Hopkins, Harriet Sergeant, Professor Peter Beresford and ‘Taxpayers Against Cuts’ founder Reverend Paul Nicolson. Check out our website here: www.fifty.brunel.ac.uk/