Who set fire to the Warminster garrison bonfire?

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By Victoriaco | Monday, November 08, 2010, 14:15

Who was it who set fire to the Warminster garrison bonfire in the early hours of Friday morning?  The huge pile had been slowly growing since the end of August under the guidance of Sgt Steve Perkins and GSM Adam Gazzard.  "It had a diameter of around 30ft" said Sgt Major Gazzard.

"It stood in the middle of Gales' field beside the Land Warfare Centre in Imber Road and ever since Monday we had had two people on guard in the field all the time as military equipment like tents and the speaker system was being installed."

On Friday the patrol had driven round in a Land Rover early in the morning and seen nothing unusual. Whoever it was who struck the match had slipped in undetected by military guards.  It was soldiers on duty in the Guard Room who gave the first alert.  They had not seen any flames but they had smelled the smoke.  The fire was discovered at around 6.10am. 

"I went up to the field around 6.20 and found it well alight.  We watched it burn and realised that if we were to have a bonfire for the evening event we would have to start building another," said Sgt Gazzard.

"It was Chris Spender from Junction 18 who saved the day.  He came up here and said, "Let me make a few phone calls." see http://www.warminsterpeople.co.uk/groups/fundraisingcharityevents/Warminster-Pulled/story-10209044-detail/story.html

"In the end we had a magnificent fire and everybody had a great evening and the forecast downpour held off until after all the crowds had left.  We sold 931 tickets ahead of the event and are waiting for the money to be counted before we know how much we made.  We think around 3,000 people came along." 

"I have my suspicions as to how it was started - but whoever it was if they hoped to spoil the event they failed and Warminster showed their true spirit by rallying round to rebuild the fire."

      

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