Squibbing sponsor for 2025 Bridgwater Carnival
With the Bridgwater Guy Fawkes Carnival parade looming, a leading UK firm of chartered accountants and business advisers is backing the event for a second year as a sponsorship partner.
Westcotts, based in Castle Street, Bridgwater, is again sponsoring the parade finale – the unique squibbing display which for centuries been a feature of carnival night in Bridgwater following the failed 1605 gunpowder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament.
Tara Bell, Westcotts Partner and capital gains and inheritance tax specialist, said: “We’re proud to support Bridgwater Carnival and its famous squibbing display once again. It’s a wonderful showcase of local pride, teamwork and community spirit, and we’re thrilled to play a part in helping to keep that tradition alive.”
Carnival President Dave Creedy, who is also carnival’s long-serving Squibbing Officer said: “ We are extremely grateful for Westcotts’ support in helping us to maintain this amazing spectacle, which is seen nowhere else.”
The display sees ignition of more than two hundred pounds of gunpowder, shooting a fiery storm of red-hot sparks into the night sky. Teams from the parade carts form a 200-strong line along Bridgwater High Street carrying specially manufactured squibs (large fireworks filled with gunpowder and metallic elements) each attached to a block of wood – a cosh – which is fixed to a long pole. On a signal from the squibbing officer, the fuse on each firework is lit to produce a simultaneous firing
Squibbers must wear protective clothing and helmets as they are directly below the powerful shower of sparks. Members of the public are warned that squibbing is viewed entirely at their own risk.
