Gridlock as bonfire that took a month to build goes up in flames

Streets in Woodchurch were "gridlocked" this evening after thousands turned up to watch a bonfire. The huge spectacle, situated on Meadow Crescent, was made from "pure wood pallets" and took around a month to build.

Organised by Kirk from Kirk Superior Paving, Lee Mathie and "all the lads from the community", the huge bonfire was accompanied by food trucks, live music and a firework display. Traffic was reportedly chaotic as people struggled for parking spaces in nearby streets.

A video taken by the ECHO shows the scale of the display, as fireworks explode above. Speaking to the ECHO, Kirk said: "We’ve been at this for about a month now, selecting pallets. We’ve been building for about a week and a half.

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"We’ve been doing this every year for the past few years but this time we’ve jumped onboard with the council to get it approved so there’s a bit of health and safety for the event. It’s been good to have them on side and it makes it a bit safer for the families and people who come.

"We’re expecting a lot of people to come and watch - we’ve had thousands in the past few years.. There’s a couple of food outlets coming, donut vans, ice cream and live music too. Our bonfire is the biggest and the best!"

Reacting to photos of the bonfire, people were quick to praise it on Facebook. One person remarked: "Wow, just amazing. Well done everyone."

Another said: "Absolutely smashed it. Well done everyone. One thing I miss about [Woodchurch] is the bonfire nights - you never let the people down." Someone else added: "Bigger than my mum's house. You have done amazing."

Elsewhere, thousands gathered in Birkenhead's Ilchester Park to see the huge bonfire that was built from old wood pallets. Assembled by eight friends, tonight marks the fourth time the group have organised a community bonfire to wowed locals in Ilchester Park.

One of the organisers, James, told the ECHO: "We had thousands of people turn up last year. It was brilliant. This year we're trying to make it better, but not necessarily bigger." James and his friends have been collecting debris from all over Wirral to prepare the bonfire.

He added: "We use a lot of old pallets - we just go around the pallet yards to collect them. We also collect things off the streets, where people have thrown away firewood and things like that. There's a lot of flytipping, so we've been trying to clean up the streets a bit too."

A community bonfire has been a long-held tradition in the north end of Birkenhead, even as other organised events disappeared. One woman who attended the bonfire last year said it reminded her of "the good old days".