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Archive for the ‘Bonfire Night’ Category

The largest bonfire had an overall volume of 1,401.6 m³ (49,497 ft³). The bonfire was built by Colin Furze (UK) in Thistleton, Leicestershire, UK, and lit on 14 October 2006. Click here for further reading.

The 33-year-old is believed to be the only person in Britain who has hyperekplexia – a condition commonly known as startle disease.

A loud bang means his body goes rigid and he falls to the ground.

‘It can be very dangerous. I dread Bonfire Night,’ said Mr Latham, of Great Harwood, Lincolnshire.

This is absolutely nothing to do with Toca’s Miracle. I repeat, this has nothing whatsoever to do with Tocas Miracle by Fragma.

This is the mighty and powerful Fragma Barrage from Paramount Fireworks and this is what happens when you light more than 2 at the same time.

Stunning and massive electric silver shimmering palm bursts over lap in the sky to create this awesome effect. This was filmed at Craigs Bonfire Night Bash 2009. Good work Craig. Awesome!!

Bonfire night parties can be great fun, but carelessness with a bonfire and fireworks can result in injuries and serious damage to property. If you are having your own fireworks and bonfire party I ask everyone to follow advice about bonfire safety and to carefully follow the instructions on fireworks.

Last year, 5 November accounted for over ten per cent of outdoor fires that month that were recorded as significant incidents resulting in either property damage, casualties, or rescues by the Fire and Rescue Service (*primary fires).

Chief Fire Officers around the country are asking the public to be careful on bonfire night. The President of the Chief Fire Officers Association John Bonney said:

We want people to enjoy themselves and have an enjoyable bonfire party. The way to do this is to keep safe and recognise that fireworks can be dangerous if they are mishandled or misused. Following simple advice can mean you have a bonfire night to remember for all the right reasons.

Tips for bonfire safety

Never build your bonfire too close to overhead cables or nearby property. Bonfires should be 18 metres from buildings, trees, fences, overhead cables and car parking areas.Bonfires should be no more than 3 metres in height. There should be a suitable barrier around the bonfire to keep spectators 5 metres away.Always check your bonfire before it is lit, children have been known to build dens inside them.Do not use petrol, paraffin, diesel, white spirit or methylated spirit to light the bonfire.Do not burn aerosols, batteries, bottles, foam-filled furniture, tins of paint or tyres.Keep some buckets of water nearby in case of emergency and to damp down after the event.Always extinguish your bonfire once your party has finished.Do not build bonfires on council land or others land without without permission from the council or land owner .

Fireworks

If you must have your own fireworks party, leave the lighting of the fireworks to a responsible adult.Only ever buy fireworks from a reputable retailer.Only buy fireworks marked BS 7114.Keep fireworks in a closed metal box, take them out one at a time and put the lid back onFollow the instructions on each firework use a torch to read them.Light them at arms length using a taper.Stand well back.Never go back to a lit firework.Never put fireworks in your pocket nor throw them.Keep a bucket of water nearby if you are setting off fireworks in your garden.Keep pets indoors.Alcohol and fireworks do not mix and may lead to injury.Dont set off noisy fireworks late at night and never after 11.00pm

After the display

1.Use tongs or gloves to collect spent fireworks, they might still be hot enough to burn

In an emergency

2.Cool the burn or scald with cold water for at least 10 minutes
3.Dont touch the burn or pull away any material stuck to it
4.Cover the burn with clean, non-fluffy material to prevent infection cling film is ideal
5.If clothing catches fire, get the person to stop, drop to the floor and roll them in heavy material, such as a curtain
6.Seek medical advice

Call it what you will, the best night in the UK calander has arrived.

Bonfire Night is traditionally to celebrate the failure (or more likely the attempt) of the the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Guy Fawkes and his fellow conspirators had a dastardly plan to blow up parliament, the King and all the hangers on.

Guy was captured and tortured and finally executed along with his buddies, and the King and all of the government survived to li(v)e another day.

So, how do we celebrate Guy Fawkes Night in the UK?       With fireworks of course!!

Picture of Guy Fawkes

The man himself Guy Fawkes would be proud I am sure of how well he is remembered today.

Here at Epic Fireworks we love Guy Fawkes Night and Bonfires and any excuse to set off fireworks.

Have a safe and happy night and enjoy your fireworks wherever you are!!

Happy Bonfire Night everybody!

As the nights draw in, a small band of mischief-makers prepare for an annual night of mayhem. Mischief Night is their chance to let loose and cause a little bit of chaos.

Depending on where you live, it lands sometime around Halloween and Bonfire Night. And opinions vary on whether it is a chance for harmless fun or an excuse for anti-social behaviour.

Like many native traditions, its exact origins are unknown, but Mischief Night is thought to date from the 1700s when a custom of Lawless Hours or Days prevailed in Britain.

“These were times when normal laws were suspended and tricks could be played ranging from throwing cabbage stalks at people, to the swapping of shopkeeper’s signs and gates,” says Simon Costin, Director of the Museum of British Folklore.

Go back to the 1950s it was largely an age of innocence. So the sorts of pranks were the kind of things that make modern people smile

It was not until the 1830s that Mischief Night itself appears on record, held on 30 April. Today, however, it is an autumnal occasion. Some are adamant it is 4 November, while for others it will always be the night before Halloween.

Many believe this discrepancy lies with its connection to Halloween, which was held over several days after Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

“We removed 11 days to adjust, which means some places observed the old dates for things like Christmas and Halloween and some observed the new,” says Professor Stephen Sayers of Leeds Metropolitan University.

“Halloween, Bonfire Night, trick or treating and Mischief Night are all part and parcel of what used to be one festival.”

Since the 1950s, Mischief Night appears to have died out in all areas of the UK except northern England, and it is not at all clear why.

What is known is that it was exported to the United States, and recently re-imported as trick or treat, now popular across the UK.

“It may well be that the North has disconnected from the South which has been far more in tune with modernity,” says Mr Sayers.

“We tend to think of Britain as all behaving as if it’s one thing, but there are vast sections that still observe old customs that have largely died out elsewhere.”

Some of the more traditional pranks might have disappeared, but there is no evidence that Mischief Night itself is going the same way.

Online chat rooms prove it is alive and well. “Put peanut butter under the door handles of people’s cars so they’ll get it all in their fingers,” suggests one mischief-maker.

Such is the resilience of pranksters that some police forces put on extra patrols. The crack-down has become a week-long operation, because what started as one night of minor mayhem has morphed into a week or so of mayhem.

“Arrests go up around Mischief Night, we get a bit of a spike around those 10 days,” says Ch Insp Mark Khan from North Yorkshire Police. “The catalyst seems to be as soon as the clocks fall back, obviously it gets darker earlier and kids are out.”

Some believe we are becoming less tolerant of what is essentially harmless fun, but others think it is becoming more vicious. Traditionally mischief-makers stole gates or knocked on doors then ran away.

“Go back to the 1950s, it was largely an age of innocence,” says Mr Sayers. “So the sorts of pranks were the kind of things that make modern people smile.”

Nowadays, you are more likely to be covered in batter or have a firework pushed through the letter box.

So at this time of year, supermarkets ban the sale of flour and eggs to under-16s. And, contrary to the popular belief that on Mischief Night you are immune from prosecution, police will take action.

“They commit some kind of criminal damage or public order offence, and the next thing is they’re in trouble with the law and they get some kind of caution,” says Ch Insp Khan.

Some argue Mischief Night is a necessary evil. It allows people to experiment with behaviour that would normally be socially unacceptable. Social psychologists call it “psycho-social moratoria.”

“It means a time when the normal rules don’t apply,” says Mr Sayers. “A good example would be the office Christmas party, where all the guzzlings and flirtations you can get away with to an extent. Try that in the middle of June and you would be shown the door.”

It could be that Mischief Night allows people the opportunity to thumb their nose at authority in a way that is socially controlled, he adds.

So, far from being discouraged, some argue Mischief Night should be embraced.

“We [humans] are a set of contradictions sometimes charged with passion, sometimes charged with a darker nature that we need to express in some way,” says Mr Sayers.

“Anyone can be aggressive, but it’s skilled to be aggressive in a way that is socially acceptable and physically and morally and spiritually uplifting and, most of all, good fun.”

Snakey Jakey knows what he is talking about kids, listen to his top safety tips and have a safe and “totally brill” bonfire night.

Always be safe with fireworks and never give sparklers to a child under 5 years old. For more safety advice visit Epic Fireworks safety page.

A FEAST of firework action is promised this weekend at the Royal Gunpowder Mills.

The Waltham Abbey venue is holding its first ever public firework display for its Guy Fawkes Experience event.

Kicking off at 11am on Saturday and Sunday, the event begins with a performance of the Gunpowder Plot staged by local actors and there will also be a 17th century food-tasting experience.

The main attraction fireworks display will take place from 4.45pm onwards on both days.

The Sunday event will also see a plaque unveiled by actor Timothy West in recognition of the site’s contribution to transport heritage.

It’s one of the brightest and most colourful nights in the city. Norwich’s annual fireworks extravaganza, Sparks in the Park, returns on November 7. EMMA LEE meets the man who ensures that the event goes off with a bang.

It’s easy to tell when the Reverend Ron Lancaster is in the laboratory at Kimbolton Fireworks.

“There’ll be a puff of smoke and he’ll either come back with a smile on his face or go back to the drawing board,” laughs Darryl Fleming, the company’s display director.

Rev Lancaster, who was also a chemistry teacher, set up Kimbolton Fireworks back in the 1960s.

From humble origins, it’s now a top display company which has fired pyrotechnic shows around the world – and is the only one left in the country to manufacture its own fireworks.

As you can imagine, with Bonfire Night fast approaching, it’s a very busy time of year for the Cambridgeshire-based business.

Around November 5 it will be behind numerous public firework displays around the country – including Sparks in the Park at Earlham Park in Norwich next Saturday.

Led by Norwich City Council’s events team, it boasts two firework displays, live music and a fun fair and is one of the city’s biggest family nights out – and literally one of the brightest.

Around 1,800 individual firing cues will set off 2,000 fireworks and launch 16,000 projectiles into the sky. The fireworks will weigh in at 2.5 tons.

And you could say that it’s Darryl’s responsibility to make sure that the event goes with a bang.

“It’s certainly one of the premier displays we do over the November period,” Darryl says.

“The children’s display is 12 minutes long and the adults’ is 15 minutes long. Both of them are set to music and they’re synchronised by a digital firing system. We have a crew of 12 people there for a day and a half setting up the show.”

Firework displays have certainly come a long way since Rev Lancaster founded the company in 1964. He started the business primarily for research purposes, then started doing displays to fund his research.

“Now we fire nearly 300 shows a year,” Darryl says. “We just fired the Legoland show this weekend. We do Hogmanay in Edinburgh, we did the display at the Hong Kong handover, we did the VJ Day 50th anniversary and the opening of the Thames Barrier.”

Darryl was taught chemistry by Rev Lancaster and worked at Kimbolton Fireworks part-time for 10 years, before joining full-time 11 years ago.

Despite now being in his seventies, Darryl describes Rev Lancaster as “very much still the lynchpin of the company.”

“He takes an active interest in the direction of the company and still does a lot of research and development within the firework industry. He’s in most days. And he’s in the factory playing around with the agents and chemicals looking to improve on existing effects. He wouldn’t like me to describe him as a mad professor, but he’s certainly one of life’s eccentrics,” Darryl says.

Helen Selleck, Norwich City Council events manager, says that the aim of Sparks in the Park is to create a traditional family night out.

“Sparks in the Park gets bigger and better every year and it has developed into so much more than a fireworks display. This is a real Bonfire Night celebration that encapsulates the traditional bonfire and a Guy Fawkes with music and a funfair and all-round entertainment,” she says.

SPARKS WILL FLY – WHERE TO ENJOY BONFIRE NIGHT FUN

From huge events set to attract thousands of people to small gatherings on village greens, Norfolk always has a colourful array of fireworks events to choose from.

Over the new couple of weeks there will be plenty of explosive action, with Bonfire Night celebrations including fun fairs, competitions and processions.

Here are just a few of the exciting events:

Click here for the original article.