BLACK TIE BALL


‘Our black-tie fundraiser made


over £7,000’ Natalie Postlethwaite, PTA co-chair, Valley Road PTA, Henley-on-Thames (170 pupils)


PARADE AND BONFIRE


‘Children lead the parade shouting: “Burn the rat!”’


Emma Belivanis, chair, Eyam CofE primary school PTFA, Derbyshire (69 pupils)


O


ur village of Eyam has a unique history. During the 1665 outbreak of the bubonic plague, villagers


bravely quarantined themselves to prevent spreading the disease to surrounding areas. As a result, more than half the population died. We remember their sacrifi ce every year in our bonfi re night celebrations. Rather than burning a Guy, we put a huge rat on top of the fi re. About 20 years ago, the school art


club applied for a grant to make lanterns and learned how to work with willow. Following this, the bonfi re committee suggested re- establishing the old Eyam custom of rat burning, and the giant willow rat we know today was born. In the weeks leading up to the bonfi re, we build the rat after school using willow from a tree in the school fi eld and papier- mâché. We also make the lanterns for the parade. The excitement grows as the children spend several weeks crafting the rat. Pupils learn about the history of


Eyam throughout the year, but particularly in the run-up to bonfi re night. The stories make them feel like part of the ongoing history of the village. Most of the PTFA’s energy is directed towards our November bonfi re event, but the village also has


32 AUTUMN 2025 School Fundraising


a summer carnival – part of Wakes Week, which begins with a service at the limestone outcrops of Cucklett Delph on the last Sunday of August – also known as Plague Sunday. Villagers fi rst held these outside services during the plague outbreak, one of many sensible measures the village implemented long before there was any understanding of the disease. On the day of the Eyam Bonfi re,


visitors from across the county join us. Local people can buy their tickets early and each pupil at the school gets a free ticket. We charge £8 for adults and £4 for children. The parade starts in the village square, where the children from the school carry lanterns and the willow rat. As they lead the parade through the village to the park, pupils shout: ‘Burn the rat!’ They place the rat on top of the bonfi re, ready to be lit, and our fi reworks display begins. We have an amazing community


and a dedicated bonfi re committee that handles everything from fi reworks and legal matters to insurance, road closures, health and safety, and risk assessments. During the event, we offer a variety


of food stalls, serving everything from mulled wine to burgers and hotdogs. Most of our funds come from the


bonfi re event, which generated a profi t of £21,000 last year. We used this money to buy solar panels and are now raising funds for a pre-school.


Tell us about your event… Some 100 parents sat down to a delicious two-course meal followed by dancing at local venue and golf club Badgemore Park. The event also included an auction and a true-or-false quiz, featuring some surprising facts about the teachers. A parent’s band, Dirtbag, provided the music.


Who was involved in the planning? Our PTA created a sub-committee – the Valley Road Ball Committee, which included me and PTA co- chairs Cath Drummond and Victoria Montgomery as well as mums Cathy, Gemma, Katie and Sarah.


Did you need many volunteers and what did they do? Our committee’s six members managed most of the organising. We roped in some of the dads too: Simon Haynes designed our invitations, while Anthony ‘Campo’ Campbell and Iain ‘Monty’ Montgomery compèred the evening.


AS TOLD TO DANIEL ETHERINGTON


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