Crowds who gathered by Deal Castle last night to commemorate the lives of eleven men who were killed in an IRA bomb at Deal barracks 25 years ago, were unsettled by rising smoke.

Onlookers, concerned about the thick, black smoke called for assistance at 7.32pm, half an hour before HM Royal Marines Collingwood Band were set to beat a retreat on the promenade.

Firefighters attended the scene at the back of Admiralty Mews in The Strand, Walmer, and found a man having a bonfire in his garden.

Thomas Solley, who was working at the private gathering hosted by Maj Gen Martin Smith inside Deal Castle, said: “It was black and thick and was coming over the houses and blowing towards the sea. That’s why people thought it was a house or something big.”

Crew manager Paul Evans said: “It was a false alarm.

“It was a man having a quiet, safe bonfire. People had just seen the smoke and thought, ‘Oh dear’.”