I admit to being a full blown 100% grinch, Halloween has been imported from America and in my opinion it should have stayed there, I’d rather youngsters celebrate Guy Fawkes Night on 5th November, a true home grown tradition. When I was young Halloween was very low key, I remember hollowing out turnips and putting a candle in them, there were no pumpkins then. That was it for Halloween we didn’t dress up or do trick or treat. In past years we used to get sweets in if kids knocked but we rarely got any coming so don’t bother now. Bonfire night was a big celebration the local kids spent weeks gathering stuff for a communal bonfire on waste ground, it used to end up enormous and sometimes the fire brigade would come and take some stuff off if it was too big. On the night of the 5th the bonfire was lit and families would come with fireworks and potatoes to bake in the embers, there was always a homemade Guy on the top of the bonfire.