24 replies to this topic

[sizzle]

I'll do my best to be there too! I assume the fireworks fired will be the fireworks currently listed on the website?

We will be firing our Pro and Garden ranges tommorow night.

[YT2095]

see ya in about 2 hours then, I`ll be the one that looks a bit like my avatar and will prolly have a beer and my Daughter with me.
it`ll be nice to meet a few more off here

I have no idea what any of you guys look like but if ya see a guy with long hair an olive green jacket and grey(ish) goatee chin beard, that`s me! just say Hi

(I`ve not bitten anyone in AGES!)

[David]

Well, that was great! I had no idea it would be so large-scale and busy! Obviously meeting other forum members wasn't as simple as I imagined. As I drove down I was worried I'd be the first there and hanging around!

I was thinking (my error) that they would be firing everything they sold, but in retrospect that would have taken ages!

THE GOOD!

As a free evenings entertainment, OUTSTANDING! A big thank you to all who organised it and put in lots off effort to make it such an enjoyable evening.

Nice, easy to find location, free brochures and accurate firing list.

Demo nights are a great way to see products, too.

THE BAD MEDIUM

The pro display- Well, not bad, but In my own opinion (nothing more) it could have been better. Annoying techno soundtrack, and seems to go on a long time. The best pro displays I've seen are the quick displays that maintain a total WOW factor, and keep the crowd spellbound. Some really super mines, but a lot of Cat 3 stuff too- rather like having cotton when you can have silk.

They hyped the "Biggest shell in Europe"- and it was indeed ace with a shockwave- but perhaps a little bit of an anti-climax- I dunno what I was expecting. I'm the sort of person who, if told something is REALLY good, almost always feels a bit let down. Anyone else know what I mean?

Of course- very enjoyable and free- fantastic.


THE UGLY

A couple of small "issues", however. The DJ said, several times, "This is all stuff that can be fired in your back garden." Really? I wonder how many people have a back garden with at least a full 25 metres of space? Probably they should have made it clear- a leaflet or something- about the difference between Cat 2 stuff and Cat 3 stuff. Also the DJ (perhaps didn't realise) that several units were being used at once- eg when 15 Men Shun Thunder Rockets were fired he said something like " All that just for a fiver... " Well, no- that would be £15. Not a big deal- and its good to fire in multiples, but just something that I think should always be made clear to the customers.

Getting out of the car park was ARGHHHHH..... Suggestion- next year maybe charge £1 a car, which can be used to cover the cost of marshals and proper marked lanes etc. Also some crowd marshalls are a must- children were leaning on those barriers, and they were sloping forwards. Some children were sitting on them. If a barrier collapsed and if a child was injured there could be a serious claim made. I know this from my own job- you simply can't take risks nowadays with the general public- and don't rely on parents to look after their offspring. A small charge- even just like 50p each, would cover the hire of professional event staff.

Edited by David, 06 October 2007 - 11:11 PM.

[sizzle]

Thank you for your review of our evening, MDL's professional display was intended to last only 10 minutes but lasted 22 in total, this was mainly due to the amount of pyro MDL had, SP Fireworks supply all of their display pyro and we had intended them to fire for 10 minutes. As we were expecting far fewer people than we eventually got, parking was not as well organised as we could have done, Unfortunatley due to the location of the event and there only being one lane in and out of the field it is very difficult to move traffic at a high rate, these are all changes we are considering for next year's event. With regards to the parking charge, we try to avoid this as the idea of the night is that it is a completely free display, charges would put customers off coming.

The 16" Shell finale that MDL fired at the end was a surprise to all the staff, having seen them being fired in China, we expected a much much bigger burst hence why there was such a build-up by DJ Midnight Rider.

Marshalling - again, as we had expected around half the number of people who eventually turned up, we had fewer marshalls than required, there will be more at next years event to ensure maximum public safety.

Behind the scenes is a very different story to what the public see, with last minute technical hitches, the DJ did not have the correct required script for the event, hence why some items such as the Thunder b**b rockets were described as one pack, Midnight rider is not involved in the pyro industry and hence does not have knowledge of the products like the SP staff do, he was unaware that certain items were being fired in multiples.

Thank you to everyone who came to the event, we will ofcourse be holding our 5th Annual Demonstration Night in October next year and hope to see you again!

Well, that was great! I had no idea it would be so large-scale and busy! Obviously meeting other forum members wasn't as simple as I imagined. As I drove down I was worried I'd be the first there and hanging around!

I was thinking (my error) that they would be firing everything they sold, but in retrospect that would have taken ages!

THE GOOD!

As a free evenings entertainment, OUTSTANDING! A big thank you to all who organised it and put in lots off effort to make it such an enjoyable evening.

Nice, easy to find location, free brochures and accurate firing list.

Demo nights are a great way to see products, too.

THE BAD MEDIUM

The pro display- Well, not bad, but In my own opinion (nothing more) it could have been better. Annoying techno soundtrack, and seems to go on a long time. The best pro displays I've seen are the quick displays that maintain a total WOW factor, and keep the crowd spellbound. Some really super mines, but a lot of Cat 3 stuff too- rather like having cotton when you can have silk.

They hyped the "Biggest shell in Europe"- and it was indeed ace with a shockwave- but perhaps a little bit of an anti-climax- I dunno what I was expecting. I'm the sort of person who, if told something is REALLY good, almost always feels a bit let down. Anyone else know what I mean?

Of course- very enjoyable and free- fantastic.
THE UGLY

A couple of small "issues", however. The DJ said, several times, "This is all stuff that can be fired in your back garden." Really? I wonder how many people have a back garden with at least a full 25 metres of space? Probably they should have made it clear- a leaflet or something- about the difference between Cat 2 stuff and Cat 3 stuff. Also the DJ (perhaps didn't realise) that several units were being used at once- eg when 15 Men Shun Thunder Rockets were fired he said something like " All that just for a fiver... " Well, no- that would be £15. Not a big deal- and its good to fire in multiples, but just something that I think should always be made clear to the customers.

Getting out of the car park was ARGHHHHH..... Suggestion- next year maybe charge £1 a car, which can be used to cover the cost of marshals and proper marked lanes etc. Also some crowd marshalls are a must- children were leaning on those barriers, and they were sloping forwards. Some children were sitting on them. If a barrier collapsed and if a child was injured there could be a serious claim made. I know this from my own job- you simply can't take risks nowadays with the general public- and don't rely on parents to look after their offspring. A small charge- even just like 50p each, would cover the hire of professional event staff.

Edited by sizzle, 07 October 2007 - 12:20 AM.

[David]

It was a massive turn out, which is really good to see! I'm glad that you have taken note of the need for proper staff/marshalls. I'm sure car parking issues can be solved with some proper lane markings, etc.

the DJ did not have the correct required script for the event, hence why some items such as the Thunder b**b rockets were described as one pack, Midnight rider is not involved in the pyro industry

Yeah, I guess that it was simply a lack of communication rather than a deliberate "shill." Thats cool, not a big deal.

My own opinion- others may well disagree- is that the event didn't really need a DJ. The Fireworks are good enough to "sell" themselves without an ad lib commentary I think - and the big screen and firing list were very useful. Most people it seemed weren't really into the party tunes, rather we were waiting for display. Fireworks alone are really exciting- a crowd doesn't need "warming up."

I think the DJ made the simple mistake of confusing your "Garden Range" (which are mainly Cat 3) with Garden Fireworks (Cat 2) .

I realise that sounds a bit narky- I don't mean it that way- just some feedback!

MDL's professional display was intended to last only 10 minutes but lasted 22 in total, this was mainly due to the amount of pyro MDL had, SP Fireworks supply all of their display pyro and we had intended them to fire for 10 minutes

I know the temptation too from my own experience- set off loads and loads of stuff!!!

So- was that really the biggest shell in Europe? Any links to video of it would be great! It was a very large lingering effect- I was just expecting an enormous burst.

Edited by David, 07 October 2007 - 01:42 AM.

[sizzle]

It was a 16" Shell which is the largest shell in Europe that can be fired, I myself had to contact both Manchester and Birmingham airports Air Traffic Control centers to get permission to fire, I think everyone, the staff included, were expecting a far bigger burst from it. It was a Brocade effect. There will be a video available within a few days.

Edited by sizzle, 07 October 2007 - 04:21 PM.

[David]

It was a 16" Shell which is the largest shell in Europe that can be fired, I myself had to contact both Manchester and Birmingham airports Air Traffic Control centers to get permission to fire, I think everyone, the staff included, were expecting a far bigger burst from it. It was a Brocade effect. There will be a video available within a few days.

Ah, I see- a 16 inch shell is the biggest allowed in Europe, rather than that particular effect from that shell. I can be slow sometimes!

[BrightStar]

Well, it was a very enjoyable evening.... Thank you to everyone at SP Fireworks for an exciting and well organised event - I'm told you were working on site from the crack of dawn to make it happen. I counted hundreds of cars in the car park, so the occasion must have raised lots for charity. It was really good to see it such a great success.

It's always fun to guage the reactions of the crowd. The DJ's warm-up music was horribly tacky, but he had all the kids happy and dancing. As the demo progressed, amongst those around me, the husbands were excitedly ticking boxes with the kids saying 'we want THAT one Daddy' and the wives muttering 'not in MY back garden' as the DJ reminded us that we 'really could' use the larger Cat 3 at home. I have a few suggestions from the crowd to pass on, so will do so ASAP.

The new SP Garden range seems to be really versatile at any budget point. Even the smaller cakes cover a variety of well defined and specific (and hence useful for a planned display) effects - high altitude whistles, low level chrys bursts, mines, quiet streamers or vivid colour crackle breaks etc. etc. . They certainly put supermarket barrages (a minute of tawdry whizzes and bangs sold at twice the price) to shame...

The SP Pro range (large Cat 3) is exciting if you know you have a budget in place for a show. The ability to properly coordinate colours with impressively large breaks and reliable timing, without the need for Cat 4 cover, is quite something. It was really helpful to see the range close up in person.

The MDL display was impressive - I have to say that I side-stepped the music at this point to better watch the pyro. Firing from five front stations with a backline of shells was ambitious but worked very well. Throwing in a 16" was the icing on the cake. None of us quite knew whether it worked as planned (and it seems they rarely do), but we were all sure that something big had happened...

Re. the stewarding of the event, I arrived half an hour early and was shown to a place by efficient parking attendants. I left only a little late (after congratulating the team) without any real delay. No problems here for me.

YT2095 - sorry to miss you, I had hoped to say hello. The UKPS needs a secret sign that we could wear at these events to spot each other...

Edited by BrightStar, 07 October 2007 - 10:55 PM.

[sizzle]

Thank you for your review BrightStar, any comments by the crowd that you would like to pass on to me would be excellent, we are always looking to improve the event for maximum enjoyment. When it comes to our home ranges, we do not look at price, we look at quality. Most of the big companies now-a-days tend to cut corners on effect and quality in order to keep the price down, we have tried to keep an even balance between price and quality.

Over 10 months of work has gone into our new Garden range from inital trips to china to specify what we want in each product, through 3 months of label design (which took me an awful long time!) and shape design to getting it "on the water" and in our storage. Hopefully we have cracked the code and people enjoy the new range!

We will hopefully next year be having a VIP area which UKPS and Trade members will have access to in order to meet-up and chat amongst each other and with myself and other staff members. We enjoy having UKPS members at our events and hope that more of you will be there in the future!

Well, it was a very enjoyable evening.... Thank you to everyone at SP Fireworks for an exciting and well organised event - I'm told you were working on site from the crack of dawn to make it happen. I counted hundreds of cars in the car park, so the occasion must have raised lots for charity. It was really good to see it such a great success.

It's always fun to guage the reactions of the crowd. The DJ's warm-up music was horribly tacky, but he had all the kids happy and dancing. As the demo progressed, amongst those around me, the husbands were excitedly ticking boxes with the kids saying 'we want THAT one Daddy' and the wives muttering 'not in MY back garden' as the DJ reminded us that we 'really could' use the larger Cat 3 at home. I have a few suggestions from the crowd to pass on, so will do so ASAP.

The new SP Garden range seems to be really versatile at any budget point. Even the smaller cakes cover a variety of well defined and specific (and hence useful for a planned display) effects - high altitude whistles, low level chrys bursts, mines, quiet streamers or vivid colour crackle breaks etc. etc. . They certainly put supermarket barrages (a minute of tawdry whizzes and bangs sold at twice the price) to shame...

The SP Pro range (large Cat 3) is exciting if you know you have a budget in place for a show. The ability to properly coordinate colours with impressively large breaks and reliable timing, without the need for Cat 4 cover, is quite something. It was really helpful to see the range close up in person.

The MDL display was impressive - I have to say that I side-stepped the music at this point to better watch the pyro. Firing from five front stations with a backline of shells was ambitious but worked very well. Throwing in a 16" was the icing on the cake. None of us quite knew whether it worked as planned (and it seems they rarely do), but we were all sure that something big had happened...

Re. the stewarding of the event, I arrived half an hour early and was shown to a place by efficient parking attendants. I left only a little late (after congratulating the team) without any real delay. No problems here for me.

YT2095 - sorry to miss you, I had hoped to say hello. The UKPS needs a secret sign that we could wear at these events to spot each other...

[YT2095]

well my Family and I enjoyed it!

in fact the second part of the show was better than some of the Pay-For displays we`ve been to, the Fan Barages were great with that rising sine-wave patern, and the criss-cross pattern set up was just Perfect, esp from where we stood.
so Many Thanks Sizzle! and it was great to meet Reggie again too
I have no real complaints about it, other than in the 1`st show there was One firework about 5 or 6 in from the start that exploded and sent quite a few of the stars into the crowd where we stood, they flew across just above ground level.
other than that, How can Anyone Complain about a Venue that has a Beer Tent!!!!

Well done Siz!