Cllr Chris Clarance, chairman of the Shaldon Bonfire Committee, writes:

I would like to thank all members of the public who attended Shaldon bonfire on Friday.

Health and safety measures were so well respected and thanks to the generosity by all putting into the collecting buckets a new record sum of £1,758 was realised.

We did let off £1,800 of fireworks and with the food stalls producing a profit to meet the other costs – such as a digger to heap up the fire and again to clear up the beach into a skip – the bonfire was self funding without using any council tax payers' money to fund the event.

I would especially like to thank PC Rob Harvey and PCSO Colin Ryder, Fred Curry and team for the fireworks, Barbara Coley, secretarial duties, Lynn Manester and her team for the grub, Sally Chapman and her team doing teas and coffees, Ben Miles and Sea scouts cold drinks and toffee apples, Ricky Smith and Jamie Beaulieu road closures duties, Mike Bolsworth and Chris his helper, who roped off all the safety areas, and Peter Stokes' team for producing all the guys.

I also thank those who marshalled the event and bucket collectors, too, which enabled the largest crowd ever to enjoy a mild and very successful November 5 evening.

A special thank you to Teignbridge Council which licensed the event and to Tracey Higgs, who helped with our risk assessments, and to Station Commander, Ian Radford, of Teignmouth Fire Station, for his final advice on the night, with his impact risk accessment. This enabled me to make the decision to give the go ahead for the event to proceed.MORE LETTERS IN OUR DIGITAL EDITION