I think our kids have missed out on a great deal of fun

Guy Fawkes was as eagerly anticipated as Christmas.  The presents were better at Christmas but nothing could touch the excitement or the sheer irresponsibility of it.  Boys were designed with this in mind –  launching rockets from your back garden, Catherine wheels spinning, Roman candles spewing and daring each other to hold lady crackers in your hand.  I think I managed to progress to a big bang resting on an open palm.  In short I was a woes.

Main picture: Typical Balsa wood model aircraft construction

In the warm up to Guy Fawkes the neighbourhood would be shaken with the sound of Big Bangs.  Lady crackers were shoved into ant holes and insects were blown to bits.  During that period boys declared a Jihad against the insect world and their architecture.  Dean and I actually made guns out of pieces of pipe and shot marbles at each other.

Guy Fawkes night was a glorious celebration in technicolored chaos.  We would combine with the Stirks and we ooh-ed and ahh-ed our way through the night in their backyard.  The night would never be long enough.

When I was in Std 2, the day after Guy Fawkes was a Sunday.  As was normal for South Africa, it was deathly quiet.  I walked the neighbourhood and picked up all the spent skyrockets that I could find.  I ended up with a packet of them.  Like fruit packing cases they were very useful for an aspirant carpenter – actually unique.  Their stabilizing sticks were 4-5mm square for which I should be able to find some use.

An application soon came to the fore.  There was to be a night at school where all our hobbies could be displayed.  I decided to construct a model aircraft.  I understood the construction as Keith Schroeder over the road had built some.  These are made from balsa wood.  The various sections of the fuselage are flat circular sheets of the appropriate cross-sectional shape of the fuselage at that point with little notches on its periphery.  These are the frames.  Thin square sticks are glued into the notches and connect the frames together to form the desired shape.  The wings are similarly made.  Finally a special tissue fabric is fixed to the skeletal frame and a dope is applied that shrinks the fabric to a taut conformal finish.

Typical Balsa wood model aircraft construction

Since I didn’t have money for a kit and because it wasn’t challenging enough, I decided to design one around my rocket sticks.  To make it more interesting I decided on a biplane.  I did some sketches and plotted it all out.  With a bit of fancy fingerwork I got the structure built and hand carved a propeller.  To keep things simple for once, I made it a two bladed prop rather than a three bladed one.  Now for the tricky bit – I needed to cover the framework and in the absence of funds for the proper stuff, I turned to the trusty old brown paper.  Every kid of my age was competent in the use of brown paper in covering their exercise books so I tackled this final process without worry.  I was quite proud of the result.  Sure it was a bit fragile and creased but it was OK.

On the night I proudly carried my plane into the school hall and placed it on our class’s trestle table.  I looked around at the other offerings.  I was embarrassed at my shabby project when placed alongside all the superior shop bought kits and train sets and doll sets that were arrayed on the tables.  I slunk to one side and avoided looking at my plane, trying to disown it.  Overhearing some comments as to its originality and inventiveness did not mollify me.  It was only when I matured that I realised that my project was probably the best there for its originality.

Written by Dean McCleland:

While we are all confessing pur youthful misdeeds, I will confess about my favourite Guy Fawks trick.

In the back yard were two guava trees. This was just the item that Blaine & I required to make “Guava Bombs.” It was simplicity at its best. One merely shoved a lit Big Bang in a rotting guava & lobbed it over the wall into the neighbours.

After camping in our garden one Guy Fawks, Mr Stirk, our next door neighdoor neighbour, who actually pined for sons, would engage us in a fire cracker war. We were always the victorious party not only because there were more of us but due to our secret weapon: the Guava Bomb.

The Stirks probably always wondered why their white walls were covered with flecks of guava after a Guy Fawks party.

That was nothing. One year I was at a friend in 6th Avenue, Newton Park. Instead of the linited range of a lob, we elected to use catties. On a late Saturday afternoon with nothing to do but cause trouble, we ambled up the streets of Newton Park with our Big Bangs and Catties.

We innocently meandered into a wedding in progress at the local NG Kerk. Standing at the front gate, the entrance to the church could not have been more than three metres away. From there we could view the couple standing in front of the dominee.

Guess what we did?

We each out a cracker in the cattie, lit the fuse and aimed it into the bowels of the kerk.

As the crackers exploded, the agitated congregants were surprisingly disinterested in the wedding ceremony.

Instead of stream of males in black suits disgorged themselves from the church like a swarm of bees

In the chaos and confusion, Graham Harding and I made our escape.

But it was a near run thing

Want daai mense was woes!!