ORDINARILY, the seasonal bonfires that we still light to celebrate Guy Fawkes’s failure to blow up Parliament are the focus of entertainment rather than more serious issues.

However, recent events in St Martin have put a bonfire at the centre of concern about vandalism and have also shown just how determined a group of volunteer fundraisers can be.

At the beginning of this week persons as yet unknown set fire to the St Martin bonfire before it could become the centrepiece of an evening which would not only have entertained thousands but also raised money for the charity Holidays for Heroes. The evening had already been postponed because of bad weather, but early on Tuesday morning the organisers saw their plans literally going up in flames.

Understandably, the leader of the team responsible for the bonfire evening and the fundraising effort, Lester Richardson, was left wondering what sort of hooligan could find pleasure in denying others a good evening out while simultaneously sabotaging a very good cause. He pointed out that because it is no easy matter to set light to a large damp bonfire, the vandalism was no casual act – there was malicious premeditation.

Having seen their best-laid plans transformed into a pile of smouldering ashes, many people would have shrugged their shoulders, cut their losses and put off any hopes of a significant event until next November. But the St Martin team are made of sterner stuff. On 5 December all that should have happened a month or so earlier will unfold, not exactly according to the original schedule or exactly as envisaged, but nevertheless achieving everything that was intended.

The event has been relabelled the Christmas Charity Bonfire and Fireworks Display, it will be held in a field opposite St Martin’s Public Hall and the main charity beneficiaries will be injured service personnel brought to the Island by Holidays for Heroes.

It is a safe bet that measures will be in place to safeguard the new bonfire which will have to be built. It is also a safe bet that those responsible for the killjoy destruction of the first one are still being pursued by the law. They might or might not be caught, but either way they will have to live with the knowledge that they were responsible for a despicable act deserving of nothing but utter contempt.