Building Cultural Networks

Bonfire Self-Regulation

The BCN project was active in 16 separate communities across 6 district councils, until funding ended in December 2025. All the communities embarked on a process of change, supported by staff, volunteers and resources.  This change was underpinned by the self-regulatory approach, incorporated within a principle framework, in partnership with landowners and statutory stakeholders, designed to build the capacity of the respective communities and to demonstrate positive cultural expression in and around the 11th of July festivities. 

Key to this development was the communities forming ‘Cultural Committees’ to oversee the work and embark on a cultural education and training programme.  This, for example, included a series of seminars and workshops on the history of bonfires, visits to other cultural and historical sites and a relevant training programme which included, for example, Event Management, Health & Safety, Fire Warden Course, First Aid, Child Protection, Marshalling, to name a few. 

During this process, the capacity of communities was sufficiently increased to deliver family-friendly cultural programmes leading up to and including the 11th July celebrations.  We refer to this as a Social Action Project. Despite the funding for BCN ending, we have produced what we are calling a safer bonfire ‘Toolkit’, which we hope to launch in the future, making it available to all communities who wish to demonstrate genuine cultural expressions pertaining to 11th July bonfires.