LUKE MARSDEN: Bonfire Night will add some sparkle to a grim year

Back when I was a kid, I used to visit houses in Whelley with my mates (some who didn’t have costumes so would cut holes in a black bin bag). We didn’t worry about the weather or how many sweets we’d get; it was great.

Understandably, parents and even teenagers are more cautious these days about wandering the streets and knocking on strangers' doors asking for free stuff.

But given the state of the country at the moment and the onslaught of negativity, I thought this Hallowe’en trick or treating would be a good light relief.

Granted, the weather was grim but I didn’t think my multipack of Twix bars would go to waste. When I say waste, I mean forcing myself to eat them all throughout the week.

But I didn’t receive a single knock on my door, I wasn’t asked to provide a treat or request a trick, not that anyone can produce any real tricks.

But the cost-of-living crisis doesn’t seem to have stopped many literally burning through their money though for Bonfire Night.

Perhaps the energy rebate money has gone on Catherine wheels.

Across Wigan we’ve had fireworks going off for many weeks including the still ridiculous exercise of setting them off throughout the day.

Haigh Hall will host a firework display tomorrow evening and, like many, I welcome organised displays.

We need some relief in these literally dark evenings but pets suffer enough on the evening to have fireworks being let off in gardens for weeks following Bonfire Night.

A packet of sparklers and a black bin bag pretty much summed up my childhood Hallowe’en and Bonfire Nights growing up and I think rewinding back to how things used to be, would be more of a treat than a trick these days.