240 replies to this topic

[Spyrotechnics]

Sorry if any offence caused, I was certainly not calling into question the quality of the course.

All I meant (but made a pigs ear of saying) was that getting a few pro displays under your belt before being let loose on a firms Cat4 catalogue would would give the person a more rounded knowledge/experience and would make for a safer display.

If you have never used shells (perhaps too young to have been able to access them when they were a retail item) then the power of the launch can be an eye opener.

Stu (trying to make sure he thinks before he types in future )

[phildunford]

Sorry if any offence caused, I was certainly not calling into question the quality of the course.

Not offended me Stu...

I do see your point as well, training plus experience is always going to be better than training alone.

[Arthur Brown]

According to email just received ALL participants on the course can happily wait for the certificates which are in the post now.

[portfire]

According to email just received ALL participants on the course can happily wait for the certificates which are in the post now.

Are you hinting at somthing there

[dogsbody]

Are you hinting at somthing there

sounds like it!!

[starseeker]

Sorry if any offence caused, I was certainly not calling into question the quality of the course.

All I meant (but made a pigs ear of saying) was that getting a few pro displays under your belt before being let loose on a firms Cat4 catalogue would would give the person a more rounded knowledge/experience and would make for a safer display.

If you have never used shells (perhaps too young to have been able to access them when they were a retail item) then the power of the launch can be an eye opener.

Stu (trying to make sure he thinks before he types in future )

No offence taken Stu,
on our course,apart from one person ,the rest of us had prior exsperiance from one form or another.But on another maybe nobody would have any,so i can certainly see your point.But as steve told us,after each course he send his assesment of each individiual to roy musk insurance to be put on file.
So if you are not up to scractch ,insurance will be hard to get.So i think there was a bit more to this course than meets the eye.
regards,

[starseeker]

According to email just received ALL participants on the course can happily wait for the certificates which are in the post now.

Result everybody,
lovely jubbly.

[Bob Twells]

According to email just received ALL participants on the course can happily wait for the certificates which are in the post now.

Sounds promising! Well done everyone

[TCblastmaster]

Sounds promising! Well done everyone

Yes, quite result. I think we can all be proud of ourselves. It shows we gained a great deal from the course (and retained a lot of rather dry but essential legislation). It was a great weekend too.

The thing I need to do now is fill in the practical experience gap with a professional outfit. While I have fired plenty of my own shells for family shows with an increasing degree of professionalism (in terms of continuity of firing- e.g. without embarrassing pauses), I have no experience of working with a professional company in any type of show.

I think getting the experience may be the difficult part, especially if my motives for doing so are known. I don't suppose anyone has contacts in the trade in the Norfolk or Suffolk area who might indulge me?

TC

[Arthur Brown]

The course did as it said it would and offered knowledge as needed to start a firing company. HOWEVER it did NOT offer all the practical skills of show planning and choreography to music, show budgeting and selling. It is the best course I could find for a starter but there is so much more to learn. However there are several companies represented overtly or otherwise on this forum and some companies may be looking for show assistance in areas far from their base.

[crystal palace fireworks]

TC,

My approach (rightly or wrongly) would be to see if there are any firework display companies in your area by logging on to Yell.com.
Contact them and offer to help them out at shows in a voluntary capacity to gain some experience.
Tell them you have attended the course that Arthur set-up via this society, and then see if they would be willing to insure you in return for your services, if not, then I would try and seek-out some insurance for yourself.
Also it would be prudent to get the display company to sign some sort of certificate (that you supply, and that they have a copy of) listing the exact work you did with that company i.e securing mortar tubes, loading mortars, fusing, site layout, hand firing, remote firing etc etc, each time you work for them you can ask them to tick more of the boxes.

[Arthur Brown]

Several companies watch this forum, and careful members may get contacts from companies looking for assistance. Every directory from Thompsons, BT, Yellow pages, Google, and the whole www may well turn up companies near wherever you live, Possibly most companies have their crewing set up for bonfire night week shows by now, but even lugging racks shows inrterest and committment and may get you more work later. If you are free to then Nov 10th is the time to look for a show to work on for NYE. Do consider your partner though -several partners expect to be partied on party nights not wait at home alone til 5 am.

There is a company offering single show cat3 insurance at a fair price and there are two companies offering 365 day cat4 insurance but it costs more!

[TCblastmaster]

Thankyou both for that advice.

While the ultimate goal of doing my own thing in a safe and economically viable way may be way in the distance, clocking up some experience with a professional company doing anything useful to them for free would be mutually beneficial. They would also have the added benefit of having on site a healthcare professional with indemnity cover should there be a medical emergency.

In regard to my dear wife I do seem to have dampened somewhat her, once evident, enthusiasm for fireworks - funny that! However, her obsession with shoes (expensive ones no less extortionate despite being in the 'sales') more than offsets the potential disharmony I hope. Arthur, you sound as though you are speaking from experience...shame on you!

regards

TC

Edited by TCblastmaster, 02 October 2008 - 08:53 PM.

[cooperman435]

For all those who haven't already done so please can you send me your details for inclusion into the contact sheet from the course.

Many thanks

Phill

[FIZCRACLE]

For all those who haven't already done so please can you send me your details for inclusion into the contact sheet from the course.

Many thanks

Phill

Hi Phill yup count me in If you would let me know when and where etc
,Cheers Tim.