38 replies to this topic

[Mortartube]

Here in my home town in East Sussex it was Standard or Brocks that dominated locally although I recall Pains getting a foot in the door in the early to mid 70's for a year or two. Astra was a rare visitor. I recall the shop cabinets full of loose items that I would stand and gaze at for ages.

[The_Djinn]

Havnt bought anything from a corner shop in years, but my supplier has everything you can imagine.
I cant even recall what brand the local corner shop stocked when I was a kid (early 70's) but I do remeber nearly every iten in the box. Only thing I remember is that the box was black with red/purple writing on it with yellow stars. Best item was the strings of what we called tomb thumb crackers (bangers to all the pom's - though I thought bangers were something that you had with mash).
Hell, those were were days, Would wait all day for my father to arrive home with this box, we would set up buckets of sand to place items in and old wine bottles to launch rockets out of (dam small in those days.. the stick was only about the length of a ruler).. and loads of dinky little fountains.

Mark

[Sparks]

I suppose it's controversial, but I miss jumping jacks and aeroplanes. Crazy little things.

[Rip Rap]

I suppose it's controversial, but I miss jumping jacks and aeroplanes. Crazy little things.

Why controversial? I too loved jumping jacks (hence my profile name).They were around for hundreds (literally) of years before it was decided they were too unpredictable for us!

[adamw]

So were swings in parks, conker fights, a sense of Britishness etc etc!!

[Rip Rap]

if one of these things flew into your house it would cause injuries damage or even a house fire.

Are you talking about jumping crackers or aeroplanes? Either way, how would either of these be more likely to "fly into your house" than any other rocket, wheel, candle etc? They cannot open doors or windows.

They were voluntarily withdrawn by the manufacturers, due to political pressure, because "items of eratic or unpredictable flight" were deemed too dangerous for our increasingly un-eratic, predictable, controlled lives!

[Rip Rap]

I HAVE seen and endured a jumping jack coming into my home in Blackburn Lancashire when I was 1 years old, this was in a size 40 box of Standard Fireworks my dad had bought to let off on the 5th Nov(it was something that scared me stiff and I cried afterwards and it bounced into the kitchen banged around and ended up behind the washing machine creating loads of smoke), so I agree with and applaud the fireworks manufacturers for banning these. I also agree with banning aeroplanes and spinners because they flew and span anywhere and everywhere, there was NO real safe distance you could watch these from because of their erratic and unpredictable flight and movement. All-in-all a good thing really.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one Anthony I have to assume the door was open when the cracker was lit? - How else could it get inside the house? Never a good idea when fireing any device. At 1 year old I am not surprised it scared you (you have a terrific memory btw).

As far as jumping crackers go, I cannot "applaud the fireworks manufacturers for banning these" because if they were used correctly, ie placed on the ground in an open space & then lit, unless they were faulty (which can happen to any type of firework) they gave you ample time to get to a "safe" distance & enjoy them.

They actually contained very little blackpowder, so even though they created alot of noise & smoke, they weren't very "powerful" (for want of a better word). Great noisey smoke makers - and you didn't quite know exactly what they were going to do next - which was what I found exciting about them - there was never two that performed the same, jumping & spinning in different directions - which is more than you can say for most fireworks.

I am sorry that your experience of jumping crackers was to "endure" one. My memories are of excitement & great fun.

[Spyrotechnics]

fantastic memory for a 1 year old Anthony


I love the little spinners etc - wasn't really IN to fireworks when I was much younger so can't remember them being on sale in this country - but items of a similar nature were common place when I visited Valencia last year - and they are GREAT FUN!!



Stu

[Rip Rap]

As far as jumping crackers go, I cannot "applaud the fireworks manufacturers for banning these" because if they were used correctly, ie placed on the ground in an open space & then lit, unless they were faulty (which can happen to any type of firework) they gave you ample time to get to a "safe" distance & enjoy them.
Open space?!?! We're talking gardens here, and there wasn't a specified safety distance on jumping jacks/aeroplanes/helicoptors and spinners in those days BUT some Standard fountains and a few roman candles in the selection boxes and sometimes sold separately would often say on the label
"Stand at least 30ft away upwind".

You need a certain sized "open space" (garden, whatever) to safely watch any firework! If you have a garden that is too small to watch a jumping cracker safely, you have a garden too small to safely watch virtually all garden fireworks.

Its a sign of the times I suppose - when I was a young lad, the street in which we lived, the houses did not have particularly big gardens, apart from 2. Aware of this, the owners of these houses, used to invite the other residents to take a few fireworks around to their house. All the neighbours would get together for a bonfire & display in the large garden! Those were the days

[Firefiend]

Most of the later types of Jumping Crackers were brilliant little fireworks and not the monsters they have been made out to be by the anti-firework brigade.

I let one off this year and it was great. I actually video'd it, and it came out really good. No-one was killed or injured becuse, knowing what they are like, we treated it with respect and stood a couple of yards away after lighting it (they were not subject to the 5 metre rule in those days)

Not a good idea to leave the door open like that Anthony. It might have landed in your pram and burnt you. Although you had a clearly defined exit route, these things can move a little quickly for a one year old.