The Sussex Bonfire Societies are responsible for the series of bonfire festivals concentrated on central and eastern Sussex, with further festivals in parts of Surrey and Kent from September to November each year. The celebrations mark both Guy Fawkes Night and the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in Lewes's High Street from 1555 to 1557, during the reign of Mary Tudor. Development The Sussex Bonfire tradition is a uniquely local form of protest with several influences under the motto We Burn For Good. Whereas Guy Fawkes night in most parts of Great Britain is traditionally commemorated at large public fireworks displays or small family bonfires, towns in Sussex and Kent hold huge gala events with fires, processions and festivals. The tradition has remained strong for more than a century becoming the highlight of the year for many towns and villages in the South East. The Bonfire Societies use the events to collect money for local charities. Guy Fawkes night was adopted by the early Lewes Bonfire gangs for convenience as this was the night that civil disobedience was tolerated when young men could let off steam which became riots. From the mid 18th century Guy Fawkes night celebrations began to take on an entirely different meaning as a rallying point to protest against authority, inequalities and for social justice. In 1785 the greatest riot perhaps ever known at Lewes began when a bonfire was started on School Hill in the centre of town. Later many conscripted men returning from the Napoleonic Wars faced real hardship and added to this feeling of social injustice, forming themselves into gangs based around sea ports where they had connections and could operate with relative impunity. The French Marinière jumper was adopted as better equipment by the British sailors and as trophies of war. Additionally the Sailor suit was common dress for working-class people at the time because of its ready availability at ports and as counter-fashion for the working class. It also provided cover for the gangs to operate as you could hide in plain sight if other people are wearing the same thing. Different colour stripes differentiated the different gangs. Later still the disenfranchised workers became increasingly politicised by radicals like Tom Paine, who lived in Lewes, and bonfire gangs or 'boys' began to organise, collecting subscriptions to finance them and building bonfires and burning effigies to show their dissent. The radicals like