Bermudians will be reviving a centuries old British tradition this weekend in St. Georges.

The Oxford & Cambridge Society together with the Corporation of St. George's will be holding a Guy Fawkes Bonfire night with fireworks tomorrow at Gates Bay Beach (Fort St. Catherines Beach).

The bonfire will begin at 6.30 p.m. and the fireworks will begin at 8.30 p.m. In the event of high winds or rain, the event will not be held.

In the past, Bermudians celebrated Guy Fawkes night on November 5, but in recent years the tradition fell by the wayside.

Guy Fawkes was a member of a group of English Roman Catholic revolutionaries who planned to blow up the English House of Parliament on November 5, 1605.

"He put gunpowder kegs under the House of Parliament and was planning to blow it up on the day that the King came to inaugurate parliament," said organiser Becky Ausenda, a member of the Oxford & Cambridge Society.

"He was caught, and eventually hung, drawn and quartered on January 31, 1606. It is a way for the community to express their loyalty to the king, and say we don't think much of this guy who tried to blow up the parliament."

She said organising the event in Bermuda was quite complicated.

"You have to be either a hotel or a municipal corporation to have access to fireworks," said Mrs. Ausenda. "That is why the Oxford & Cambridge Society is being supported by the St. George's Corporation.

"I have had a lot of support from Barbara Simon at the St. George's Foundation. And we have had huge support from the Oxford & Cambridge membership. They have made donations and gave their time to raise money. Fireworks are incredibly expensive. It is $1,000 a minute. For that reason the fireworks display will not be that long. You can't even have sparklers in Bermuda without a licence, which I think is a shame."

She said in England Halloween wasn't as popular as it is in the United States, because of Guy Fawkes Night.

"In England, it is tremendously exciting as a child to be bundled up and taken out into the cold to see this huge bonfire and exciting fireworks," she said. "And there are the sparklers. For young children it is a great experience.

"In Bermuda, we seem to adopt some of the American traditions, but the British traditions tend to be discarded. If they are popular it shouldn't matter where they come from."

A Guy Fawkes effigy is commonly burned during the festivities and a traditional Guy Fawkes doll to be burned on the bonfire was made by students at St. George's Preparatory School.

Parking on the night will be along the roadside near the beach. There is absolutely no admittance to the golf course by the public.

There will be a special hotline telephone number, 297-3676 on the day of the event, in case the weather is unclear.

There will be refreshments and entry is free.