To wonder why we never see any Penny for the Guys anymore?

[Ceridwen83]

I'm mid 40s. I'm remembering when I was a kid and into my teens.

l used to see tons around this time of year! Kids with "guys" and a hat open next to it for donations etc. They were really common.

I was just struggling to remember the last time I actually saw one! 🤔

Are they still a thing?

Do you carry pennies?

No, me neither …

They would need a card reader these days.

No, people don't like guys now.
No one really even makes them anymore.
I think there's a story behind their demise though.

Even a church collection is now either an online subscription, or a card machine in the vestibule.

Halloween has elbowed Guy Fawkes out, mainly due to US influence, but also because perhaps the idea of dragging the effigy of a Catholic freedom fighter through the streets and burning him is a bit…off.

Children begging in the street is less popular, true.

Also, burning effigies.

We did have a Guy, old clothes stuffed with newspaper for our bonfire but my mother would never have allowed us to beg

This. Nobody has cash now.

Isn’t it because fires have been regulated so much since then. People used to have fires with guys on, but it became less common because of hedgehogs, property damage etc. if there is nothing to burn them on, not much point having a guy anymore.

also, we probably don’t hate catholics as much as we used to and maybe people are more sympathetic to those who want to blow up parliament?

Very true 😂

Really? Wow! You can tell I havent been in a church recently.
I suppose its more efficient that way. A subscription to God.

Really? Wow, times have changed.

Most shops I pass already have someone begging for money in the door way all year round

Unfortunately the children would get robbed and you can't just have children sitting around outside pubs and betting shops anymore. Like carol singing. My autistic DD used to clean up because her speech was affected by her autism/LDs (she had her slightly older sister and sister's friend with her).

My church visits are almost exclusively occasional choral evensong and sightseeing. Over the past couple of years I’ve learned I don’t need to feel flustered if I find myself in a church with no cash about my person!

Was never really a thing in Scotland. Definitely not when I was growing up.

Kids can't legally buy fireworks.
Hallow fucking ween.
Many parents dont like their kids out begging off strangers.
Kids cba.
Funniest one ever saw was mid 80s,some kids with a little guy in a wheelbarrow. Mum comes hurtling up the street. They'd stuck their toddler sibling in an old shirt and mask. Toddler had happily nodded off. Kids saw mum descending like the wrath of God and scattered.

You’d need a card reader and a gender neutral “Guy”. So it would be “Minimum payment for a They”

I noticed their absence many years before the decline of cash. Haven’t seen one since the 1980s I’d say. Even then when a couple of boys my age asked for a penny for the guy I thought “Why?” It’s stuck in my mind for some reason.

They do seem incredibly old fashioned. No wonder they’re gone now.

People voluntarily make effigies of Trump and hated politicians like Boris to put on them now in groups. Maybe they feel bad asking for money because it is so much fun to do?

Probably for the best that we no longer encourage our kids to burn effigies of Catholics, I reckon.

Talking of which I'm off to Mass shortly and yes, while there's still an old-school collection there is also the option to pay with a card reader after Mass (which I do, as I don't carry cash).

My catholic schoolmates growing up used to do penny for the guy, it never seemed to be an issue of Guy Fawkes being catholic. My own catholic parents forbade it because they didn’t want us out begging, perhaps that and safety concerns is part of the reason it’s died out.

When I was a teenager, in the 1980s, our Catholic next door neighbours used to invite us round to enjoy their bonfire, complete with a Guy Fawkes. It really wasn’t an anti-Catholic thing mostly.

I think there’s just no space for making Guy effigies anymore, with private bonfires no longer being a thing. Kids go out to do trick and treat instead of ‘penny for the guy’.

Was definitely a thing in Scotland when I was growing up.
I remember making a guy out of old rags and bin bags and wheeling it round the neighbourhood in a wheelbarrow! About the same time we carved turnips not pumpkins, went guising not trick or treating and we had practiced a dance or something to 'earn' our treats.
But yes I think that tradition is long gone, it's all been Americanised now plus no-one open theirs doors anymore.

I actually really miss seeing stuff like this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24w07wd31o
Still going strong in a few areas