THERE are bonfire nights, there are Sussex bonfire nights and then there is Lewes bonfire night.

While most of the country might think bonfire night is just a couple of hours on November 5, for Sussex, bonfire season starts in October and runs right the way through to the end of November.

And when it comes to the big night on November 5, there is only one place the nation’s eyeballs swivel to – Lewes.

The Argus:

Leaders from around the world including David Cameron, Alex Salmond, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin, Ronald Reagan and Colonel Gadaffi as well as public figures as divergent as Rebekah Brooks, Sepp Blatter, Jeremy Clarkson and Osama bin Laden have all felt the fiery wrath and satire of the Lewes bonfire effigy.

All of Lewes comes alive on bonfire night to create merry hell around the town’s narrow streets.

It truly is an event that assaults all the senses with flaming trolleys of fire roaring along the cobbled stones while firecrackers explode with alarming regularity and proximity.

Jason Winter, chairman of Lewes Borough Bonfire Society, said: “It’s the biggest and oldest in the country, that’s what makes Lewes stand out.

“There are families that have been involved in bonfire societies in Lewes for generations. I am a third generation member and my son is the fourth generation involved.

“It’s in the blood, I can’t really explain it any better than that.”

Such is the burning passion in the county to mark the gunpowder plot, local bonfire societies stagger their events across autumn so every village and town can have their moment in the firelight.

This year Eastbourne Bonfire Society lit the blue touch paper on October 3 while Robertsbridge Bonfire Society kept the embers glowing all the way to November 21.

Mr Winter said: “We go out to all the other bonfire societies during the winter and the visiting societies come to us on the fifth.

“A lot of societies have been forced out of existence due to new rules and crackdowns so we like to support other societies out of Lewes to help keep them going.”

More than 400 years on from the gunpowder plot, and Lewes and Sussex bonfires continue to burn as brightly as ever.

Mr Winter said: “A lot of old English traditions have died out or been stopped by various restrictions so it’s vital to keep this one going, celebrating the capture of a traitor trying to blow up the king and Parliament.

“I would hope the tradition would continue for at least another couple of generations but who knows what is around the corner.”