Fundraising

Anyone who has been to the Ripley Bonfire will know that we are unable to charge an entry fee, however, this does not mean that the event is free.

On average it costs £12,000 a year to stage the bonfire. It is not just the fireworks, there are many other costs such as road closures, replacing old equipment, the marching band and, of course, insurance and first aid. All these costs have to be recovered, otherwise we would not be able to run the event.

Throughout the course of the evening we have a team of collectors, either in fancy dress or with official tabards or armbands, moving through the crowd with their collection buckets. This year we are trying, as an experiment, to have a card readers at collection points. They will be in Newark Lane, outside the Village Hall, Rose Lane and entering the village from the north. Instead of having cash ready to put in the bucket, why not have your cards ready and use the card reader!! For the more tech-minded members of the crowd we are having QR codes on each of the buckets, this will also hopefully help with making easier for you all.

Even with so many collectors and collection points, there will be some people who will say to us that they could not find a collector on the night. Let’s hope this new era will help alleviate this!

As a not-for-profit organisation, any extra money made by Ripley Bonfire Association is donated to local clubs, charities and village organisations. Further details about this can be found in ‘The Chairman’s Message’ under ‘About Us’ page.

Thank you for your support.