53 replies to this topic

[dr thrust]

i think they sell them at the fireworks emporium online, they have vids of them!!! and they look great

[Firefiend]

Mr Firefiend.... I'm still laughing at that, if you don't mind I'd like to send the link to a friend, as he's be just as amused, that seriously brought back some memories...... you have one comprehensive collection of pictures of 70's fireworks.... I remember parts of those indoor ones as well, another little project chalked up for when I get my act together.

I am sure I saw some indoor fireworks for sale not so long ago, but for the life of me I can't remember where.... I'm going to have to buy some for nothing more that to set off our smoke alarms

Hi Farnet. No problem at all. You're welcome to send the link where you like. The fireworks are all in my collection. I particuarly like ones from the 60s and 70s, but they're pretty hard to come by now, as I guess 99.9% went up in smoke!!

As chris m says, they definitely do the Indoor Fireworks ay the Firework Emporium. The packs are pretty similar to the old Tom Smith packs.

Cheers, Firefiend

Edited by Firefiend, 05 June 2007 - 05:36 AM.

[nimbus2]

I was just wondering if my firework comrades remember any amusing or perhaps not so amusing incidents from the past. I only have a few anecdotes to share.
Despite my dad's enthusiasm for Guy Fawkes Night back in the '60s and '70s he often warned us boys of the potential dangers of misusing fireworks. His warnings were always illustrated with the same story: When he was young he was once on Worthing pier with some friends, one of whom lit a banger and then inserted it in dad's ear "for a laugh". It quickly went off, bursting lengthwise through the fuse and plunging deeper into the ear. My dad was left deaf in that ear for a month. The experience, however, never compelled dad to prohibit us boys for buying and enjoying bangers - in fact he used to buy them for us - but always with the admonitions "do not hold them in the hand and do not put them in people's ears!"
Another event that happened to us children stands out. Our nextdoor neighbours once had a big bonfire party and we all sat on our garage roof to get the best view. How surprised we were when suddenly we were rained on by coloured balls of fire from a lopsided roman candle. The stars bounced and hissed on the roof all around us and one fragment even burnt a hole through my sister's anorak, whom screamed like a sissy while I laughed my head off. Everyone quickly climbed down, except me of course - I stayed up there and playfully dodged the remaining few stars that were lobbed towards me.
One other mishap I remember was a particular skyrocket that never took off but just exploded, bursting like a mine of serpents and catching us all offguard. It was especially strange because the rocket propellant didn't even seem to ignite. There was just a big bang that quickly followed the sizzling touchpaper. I have always wondered why that happened.
And then, of course, there are all the stories of trying to light fireworks on drizzly November the fifths. How many times have people stared for what seemed hours at the blue touchpaper of a damp firework, waiting for that tiny luminous red dot to do something. Inevitably, after exhausting patience, someone says "It's gone out". Then someone tentatively walks up to the object, and just as a match is struck, the thing suddenly bursts into life.

[Farnet]

Thanks Firefiend, I've just been over and had a look, think I will order a couple for the weekend

[BrightStar]

Thanks Firefiend, I've just been over and had a look, think I will order a couple for the weekend

I had some of the Firework Emporium indoor fireworks as a Christmas pressie. Quite fascinating - some coloured NC based tableau fires and volcanoes, Pharaohs Serpents, some Ferns, a few indoor sparklers, mini strobes and so on...

I wasn't quite sure what I was breathing in in watching them (and do use an OLD plate ) but recommended nonetheless...

Edited by BrightStar, 05 June 2007 - 06:02 PM.

[Farnet]

Nimbus2, I have loads and loads of stories, first one is unusual and very brief.

I had a minature sheltie (shetland sheepdog) as a pet when I grew up, and he used to go absolutely mad around Nov 5th as he loved fireworks and would tear the place apart if we didn't allow him to be a fellow spectator in the garden, we had to make sure he was firmly tethered though as would try and chase the sparks and also attack the fireworks themselves.

Another one is not a firework tale as such, and rather a tabboo subject on this forum, but I'm telling it as a warning as well since I only found out about this last year, and it has been a big family secret for 30 odd years. My brother decided in him ultimate wisdom to make a p1pe b*mb, well, lets just say that he was successfull and thought the ideal place to try it out was the local park,shoved in hole ina really old wall, and the time...late at night. Well it worked better than he expected and demolished said wall. The local police were so scared that some kids had got hold of a stash of old german explosives (which did happen on occasion in Guernsey, and I have a story about that as well). that they called over the b**b squad from the mainland and did a full investigation. Well they caught my brother, and amazingly he just got a severe repremand, but suffice to say that he scared himself to death with the size of the explosion and then shamed my parent into this big secret. Ironically I always wondered why he never touched the fireworks on Nov 5th, as I could see he was interested..... now I know.

I'll dig up some more tales for later.

BTW. regarding the second story.. The admission of my brother actually changed my opinion of him slightly (he's 10 years older than me and when I was young I used to follow in his footsteps on almost everything), as I now think that he was a major stupid fool for even trying something like that, and at his age I certainly knew that something like that would be unbelievably dangerous. So no I don't follow in his footsteps on that level. I'm not a spoilsport, just value my life and don't really fancy jail.

[nimbus2]

I knew my stories would "spark" some feedback. Great anecdotes, Farnet. I look forward to reading more on the subject, especially the more humourous incidents. My dear grandfather used to tell us lads that buying fireworks was a complete waste of money because it all went up in smoke. Meanwhile he puffed away on his pipe, smoked cigars and every other tobacco product, which over the course of his (ironically very long) life must have cost an incalculable fortune.

[dr thrust]

hi great stories! the rocket going bang on the floor reminded me of a incident that happened about four years ago on bonfire night,everything was going great,until i lit a small pin wheel, i stood about six foot away to make sure it was lit.....then an ear spliting bang!!!,and then just a small piece of carboard on a pin was left,has this happened to anybody else?and why did it happen

[pyromaniac303]

has this happened to anybody else?and why did it happen

It hasn't happened to me but I have a good idea why it occured. Reading Lancasters book, in the section on pinwheels he explains that the comps have to burn very fast to produce enough power to rotate the wheel, and in some cases they use barium nitrate and dark aluminium, which is virtually flash. If there is a small amount of the comp that became loose either through impact or was never compacted well enough in the first place then you'll just get the effect you described.

[YT2095]

does anyone remember in the early 70`s number 3 and 5 grade fireworks were flawed in some way, I specifically remember seeing a BBC news flash about it shortly before Dr Who came on, I was at my Grandparents house and I rem asking Why were they warning against them, and then having it being explained to me by my Grandfather, we couldn`t have a bonfire in the back garden, so we went to next doors instead, their garden was so overgrown anyway it was like Vietnam Mark 2, but there was a nice clearing for the few boxes we had of these deliciously colored fireworks and an area to deploy them, the fire was so big the couple of foot tall weeds directly in front didn`t detract from the spectacle.
my Nan was making toffee apples and we had some chestnuts roasting and the smell all seemed to add to the what can only be described as "Magik".
it was quite cold out, but somehow it went largely unnoticed (by myself at least), and then it started

I was in Love and in Awe all at the same time, and I don`t know if it`s just me, but each firework back then seemed to Last Much longer than they do today!?

Boy o Boy did I ever have a pile of Question to ask my Grandfather later (God rest him).


yup.... I was Hooked!

[GZ22]

I just recalled today when writing another post on old fireworks that the parachute I remember is not Red Moon, but Parachute Floating Light! A beautiful firework indeed.

...made by Standard, cylindrical, about 8'' tall (seemed about a foot tall back then), with a blue plastic ground spike at the bottom, a deep maroon coloured label with a picture of a man on a parachute drawn in white, and topped with the ubiquitous blue touchpaper?

Edited by GZ22, 02 November 2007 - 12:58 PM.

[nimbus2]

When I was young the names of fireworks often had a certain flair for historical things. Only a few decades separated the end of the Second World War and the time when I grew up as a young lad in the late 1960s and early 1970s. That last Great War left a peculiar legacy that somehow found it's way onto firework labels. I remember Standard's "Spitfire" and Brocks "Tracer Stream". Excelsior had a banger called "Dam Buster" and Rainbow had a small firework called "Pathfinder". And who can forget Benwell's banger "Mighty Atom"? This unreliable banger rarely lived up to it's namesake but it did at least refer to a new age in weaponry. Alongside Benwell's ominously named banger goes "Polaris", a medium-sized rocket made by Pains. This rocket was not paying homage to the North Star - but to a certain famous missile launched from a British submarine. The design on the rocket even showed how it worked, with a sylistic simplicity that stands out as a hallmark of firework label art.
Those were the days, when small fireworks still carried not only a British stamp but also a residue of patriotic emotion.

[Mortartube]

I just recalled today when writing another post on old fireworks that the parachute I remember is not Red Moon, but Parachute Floating Light! A beautiful firework indeed.

If you look at the back of this photograph, just left of centre, you can see one of these. It's a pity it's not clearer but it's the only one I can find.

http://www.fireworks...tandard-80s.jpg

[GZ22]

Wow! That brings back so many good memories. Thank you for that - an excellent find my friend!

[Firefiend]

Here's a couple of other images of the Parachute Floating Light, including a nice clear one of the blue version. Shame they were banned.

Standard Parachute Floating Light (Blue)
Standard Parachute Floating Light (Maroon)

plus a few of the other great fireworks named below and some other similarly named:

Standard Jet Fighter
Standard Spitfire
Brock's Tracer Stream Roman Candle
Excelsior Dam Buster Banger
Benwell Mighty Atom Banger
Excelsior H b**b Banger
Excelsior Atom b**b Banger
Pain's Polaris Bright Rocket
Standard Pom-Pom Banger
Wilder's Victory Flare
Rainbow Air Raid
Wessex Dam Buster Banger

Fortunately a lot of other fireworks had more peaceful names, including many to do with the space race.

Edited by Firefiend, 03 January 2008 - 10:30 AM.