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Salisbury Christmas Lights 2008

Christmas Lights Firework Display 2008, Salisbury City Centre, Wiltshire

After a break in 2007, Salisbury’s Christmas Light’s Event was back with a bang – and a spectacular firework display – in 2008. Home-town boy Christopher Biggins – fresh from jungle victory – was back in his old stomping ground to perform the switch-on and promote the local panto. In previous years the firework display has been fired from the Salisbury Guildhall rooftop, which is very limited in terms of the range of material that can safely be fired there, so Glenn worked with City Centre Management to find an additional firing site for larger fireworks on Debenhams’ rooftop. “The idea was to create a display on two sides of the audience, so that they seemed more involved and central to the show”, says Glenn, “and it also allowed us to fire bigger material than we can fire from the Guldhall and create a more impressive show.”

Access issues meant an early start to crane the kit up onto both rooftops before rush hour, but the show came together very quickly and the crew had some well-earned Christmas shopping time in the afternoon. Meanwhile, photographer David scouted out locations where he would be able to get both rooftops in the same field of vision, and after a chat with the helpful verger of St Thomas’s church he made his way up the church tower before the display took place and was rewarded with stunning views over Wiltshire before the firework display, although he hadn’t banked on bell-ringing practice in the tower below: well done for keeping your tripod steady David!

The fireworks were choreographed to music, with a Christmas soundrack mixed by Midas ProSound, featuring Andrea Bocelli, and both the display and the entire event were hailed as the best ever by both the client and the public.

“A huge thank you to Glenn and team for bringing the city’s skies to life with colour, formation and style” Lindsey Brown, City Centre Manager, Salisbury City Centre

Beefeater 24 Product Launch

Beefeater 24 Product Launch Fireworks Display, Syon Park, London

Lost Vagueness are masters of the decadent party, (as hundreds of thousands of Glastonbury revellers over the years will tell you), so we were delighted when founder Roy Gurvitz asked us to create a choreographed firework display – complete with a huge lancework logo – to music for a corporate event in London to mark the UK launch of Beefeater’s new 24 gin brand. The venue was Syon Park in West London, a lovely place for a corporate event but one that for several reasons doesn’t normally allow firework displays. And it would take more than a nice smile after the last “exception to the rule” firework display at the venue was described as “armageddon” by staff who witnessed it. However, our personal attention to the job, and the quality of our paperwork convinced them that we weren’t going to play fast and loose with their reputation.

The next challenge was the firing site itself. We are used to producing firework displays in built up areas, but this London venue was as tight as any we have worked on. After 2 site visits and many emails and reassurances that we could create a safe and spectacular display in that location, Syon’s management and the Duke’s agent agreed that the fireworks could go ahead, but the spotlight was well and truly on us to do a perfect job in challenging conditions. Here’s what Syon’s Facilities Manager Brian McMillan said: “I thought I would drop you a line to formally place on record my thanks for the excellent job your team did on Thursday night with regard to firing of the display at the Lost Vagueness event… your firing and fallout projections were extremely accurate. We all agreed from the outset that this was a very tight site with many potential problems associated with it. I do not think any of us could have wished for a better result with regards to the actual display.” And what did the client think about the display?

“What a great firework display!! Everyone looked on in awe, it really was the icing on the cake!!” Roy Gurvitz, Founder, Lost Vagueness

Mouth of the Tyne Festival 2010

Alchemy Fireworks Display for Mouth of the Tyne Festival 2010, South Shields

It was a proper melting pot at South Shields this year, or should that be a creuset? Nutkhut from London, Korbo from Lyon, and us from little old Shefford… but all with a strong Indian spice. Frank Wilson from Event International united us all in a colourful, busy bollywood-esque Fête de Mariage, and the good people of Tyneside (and beyond) came out in their thousands to help celebrate…

We gave it the full, all-singing all-dancing digital firing system treatment this year, which meant for once I could actually watch the show while FireOne took the strain and called the shots: Now I know why everyone loves fireworks! And why we get so many repeat bookings! It was actually pretty good! Most of the time I only get to see my clipboard or the firing panel… even Frank commented that it looked like the display had almost been choreographed to the music… 😉 And with the wind very light and in the right direction for once it meant that everyone had a great view, the smoke was helped on its way, and that the fallout obediently landed in the area that I’d allocated on the risk assessment a few months prior. Now that’s what I call proper planning…

Time for the thanks: Frank and team; Karri and team; Hi-Lights; and of course Ajay and the whole Nutkhut crew from dancers to producers; plus Amar & l’equipe super sympa de Korbo, including the Elephant; as always special thanks to the Alchemy team, and one special mention to welcome Dave Mannion to the Alchemy Fireworks fold – a great addition to the team!

Heritage Special Events Summer Concerts 2010, Leeds Castle

Heritage Special Events – Leeds Castle Summer Concerts, 2010

It’d been 2 years since the last classical summer concerts were held at Leeds Castle. In its heyday the concert attracted 16,000 people to spend a summers evening in the glorious setting of the castle grounds to enjoy an evening’s worth of musical entertainment, live cannons and a grand fireworks finale. So it was with joy that I got the news that the concert was back for 2010 and was going to be bigger and better than ever. The event organisers, Heritage Special Events, had seen and loved our previous work at the castle and we’d been recommended to them so Alchemy Fireworks were the natural choice to provide the pyrotechnic entertainment. The original conversation went something along the lines of; “ Can you fire a maroon at 4pm to announce the gates are open?”. “Sure we can” “Oh, and we want a daylight display, ideally to include red, white and blue smoke as the concert starts”. “Not a problem”. “And of course, a spectacular choreographed display to the 1812, Dambusters and God Save The Queen”. “Naturally!”

We ordered in fanned daylight barrages and mines specifically for the event to create a wall of patriotic red, white and blue smoke. We fired it using our digital firing system FireOne and as the display progressed, the fireworks and noise got progressively faster and louder culminating in lifts of smoke & effect mines across the grounds. Daylight fireworks aren’t often seen in the UK but they prove that fireworks can be fun any time of day!

Firing to live music is most probably the biggest challenge to any pyrotechnician. Following the tempo and feel of the music as the orchestra play is very different to firing to pre-recorded music. But drawing on his wealth of experience, using his expert judgement and finely tuned ear, we put together an extremely well designed and executed display and the huge crowds went wild. It was fantastic to see so many people holding their union jacks aloft and singing along to the Last Night of the Proms favourites – the heyday has returned, and long may it stay!

“Fabulous show on Saturday, well done as usual!” Darlene Cavill, Events Manager, Leeds Castle

RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Preview Evening 2010

Fireworks for the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show Exclusive Preview Evening 2010

The Hampton Court Flower Show is one of The Royal Horticultural Society’s flagship events and a real honour for Alchemy to be involved. The last couple of years had seen 2 different companies produce the display for this event, and without going in to too much detail both didn’t quite hit the mark with both the audience and the event organisers. In that respect it was similar to the first year we fired Leeds Castle, because our client knew how important it was to get back on track and meet their audience’s expectations: one poor show can be a singularity, but several consecutive ones can affect your audience’s perception of the overall quality of the entertainment, and even make them think twice about attending.

Add to the mix the historic nature of the venue, the sensitivity of local wildlife, and the constraints of a firing site where the wind almost inevitably blows towards the audience and you have to choose your material carefully: no big material, no drossy material. But it has to be spectacular, don’t forget. The best ever.

So, clever choreography was the order of the day, as well as designing the display with the right balance (and type) of shells to cakes and candles, so that we could fire a continuous display without any shells if strong wind forced us to pull them. In the event the wind was light and the skies were clear, too clear, in fact, as we had to wait an extra 5 minutes after the scheduled firing time in order for the West-facing audience to benefit from a darker sky and therefore a more impressive spectacle. After the last 3 summers I think we can argue that the weather being too good and delaying the start of the show was an unforeseeable problem!

Greenwich and Dockland Festival Fireworks 2010

Gravity, Greenwich & Docklands Festival @ the National Maritime Museum

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich will always hold great firework memories for us, as it was where both Glenn and I were firing on Millennium night. We’ve been back quite a few times since, and it’s a beautiful venue for pyrotechnics, either in the snow as it was just before Christmas for a wedding display, or on a warm and sunny summer‘s day as it was on Thursday for the opening night of the 2010 Greenwich & Docklands International Festival. It was the first time that we’ve worked on the festival and it was a delight to be involved in such an interesting, fun and prestigious event. Challenging, though. But as you know already, we enjoy challenges…

The material had to be just right for an historic venue. The design had to be perfectly synchronised with not just the music, but also the video and the dancers (including referencing the colour palette of the dancers’ clothes). And of course we had to impress the audience despite a maximum material size of 30mm and restrictions on where we could fire in relation to the buildings… It was no ordinary fireworks display – more of a combination of over 500 fireworks, stage effects and arena pyrotechnics, all fired by time code, locked on to the music, including dancer and pyro chases back and forth across the site – a human and firework Mexican wave! OK, so it’s difficult to explain, but believe me, it was clever stuff, fun stuff and it worked perfectly. Our thanks to all involved – creative, production, festival team , venue-side and Alchemy crew – you know who you are!

“Sorry that I didn’t manage to catch you after last night’s show, but just wanted to let you know how delighted I was with the pyro and its integration into the overall show. The display was meticulously designed and presented and had terrific impact. I particularly appreciated how well the collaboration worked between you and Jules, leading to such a sophisticated crowd pleasing finale! Also, a real result given the challenges of working in such close proximity to those buildings – well done!” Bradley Hemmings, Artistic Director, Greenwich & Docklands International Festival

Florence & The Machine

Confetti Effect for Florence + the Machine, University of Hertfordshire

No, not Florence the place. Florence the Lungs. And what lungs they are, and what a performance she gave. The Forum was absolutely packed and absolutely rocked. The end of a hard year of study was celebrated in style and for the first time the University of Hertfordshire Summer Ball took place at the new Forum – the heart of UHSU’s recent redevelopment.

It’s a fantastic venue, and it was really brought to life by an exhilarating show from Florence Welch and her band. Our role was to add a bit of extra visual spectacle to the occasion by filling the air with gold confetti during one of her most famous and popular tracks, Cosmic Love. At the given moment after the mid-track breakdown both blasters jetted into action, pumping out 6kgs of metallic gold confetti in under a minute. It looked especially good under the impressive Forum lighting rig, with the reflective confetti taking on the hue of each lighting state in turn. The crowd went wild, and you could see that the lady herself loved the effect. At the end of the track she even encouraged the crowd to catch the last falling pieces in their mouths – thanks Florence, something else to put in the risk assessment for next time 😉

We’re looking forward to our next rock and roll experience, and thanks to Confetti Master Will Matthias for working alongside Alchemy on this high-profile gig. Maybe some stage pyro or dancing flames too next time Florence?

Lambourne End

Pyrotechnics, Confetti & Streamers at Lambourne End, Essex

Sometimes we forget how lucky we are, and at Alchemy we’re certainly guilty of not giving a high enough profile to some of our smaller events for community and charitable organisations. So here’s a start to make amends.

Lambourne End is an outdoor activity centre in Essex, run by a team of dedicated, enthusiastic, caring and brilliant people. The centre has the sort of aims that would trounce any politician’s empty political pledges or any corporate outfit’s mission statement: it promotes respect and freedom for all, works for tolerance and understanding, encourages an active care and concern for the community and unites efforts by people of different traditions.

That sort of stuff makes fireworks seem pretty frivolous, so it was nice to know that they could find a role for us in their work, and that we could contribute to their success in our own little way. So it was that Glenn, Will and I headed over to Essex early on a bright, warm, still Spring morning and set about rigging a series of outdoor pyrotechnic, confetti and streamer effects to celebrate the completion of the centre’s new 60′ outdoor climbing wall. Donning harnesses and helmets, we set about taking some of the kit to the top of the tower (come on – did you really think we were going to miss an opportunity to fire from the top of a climbing wall?? You should know better by now!) while GP rigged the VIP moment for the Lord Lieutenant of Essex as well as some other ground-based effects.

It being a daylight show we were tested by 11.30am and the opening took place at lunchtime, complete with Mission Impossible soundtrack, besuited abseilers and plenty of pizzazz from our pyrotechnics as well as clouds of colourful confetti and streamers. And what did the client think to our daylight effects?

“That was brilliant!” – Claire, Event Organiser, Lambourne End

Alchemy Fireworks useful links: Lambourne End

Glenmorangie Burns Night Dinner

Glenmorangie Burns Night Dinner 2010, Whatley Manor

I’ve never been much of a whisky drinker, and I think I’ve only ever had haggis once, so it was good to experience a proper Burns Night, albeit this one was in Wiltshire (at the amazing Whatley Manor) rather than Scotland. The event was organised by Glenmorangie and Alchemy were commissioned to come up with a 5 minute quiet firework display choreographed to music by Scottish performers.

It was a beautiful crisp and clear day – one of those days when it’s a joy to be out in the fresh air doing something you love – and the team of Glenn, Rob and Simon soon had the show rigged and tested, before moving on to set up the PA system (also supplied by Alchemy) and hook up the FireOne digital firing system which was controlling both the music and the fireworks. We take it for granted now but it is an amazing piece of kit, locking the firework cues to the music via timecode and giving the choreography a punchiness of accuracy and rhythm that really does put it in a different league to an old-fashioned manually-fired push-button display… not to mention the real old-school of hand-firing… (i can scarcely believe it but some professional firework companies still hand-fire big shows, although i think that’s due to over-stretching themselves over the Bonfire Night season and not having enough firers and kit to rig everything electrically… rather you than me!)

Nowadays the expectation of firework audiences is heightened by seeing digitally-fired major international displays like London New Year’s Eve (by Groupe F, from France) or the opening of Atlantis in Dubai (by Grucci, from the USA) – remember the big aerial shots of fireworks covering the man-mad “Palm”? So even smaller shows, such as weddings, private parties or smaller corporate events, expect more than they used to – and rightly so. The technology is there, so we use it as much as we can. Digital shows require more time and effort, and digital firing systems reward talented show designers, but we’re also confident that our show design abilities make these endeavours worthwhile… well, let’s put it this way, people seem to say nice things after our shows…

“The display you performed last night was absolutely wonderful and during the course of the evening many of our guests were giving a wonderful feedback…We found the balance of sound and visual attraction of the fireworks extremely well coordinated.” Peter Egli, General Manager, Whatley Manor

Alchemy Fireworks useful links: Whatley Manor

Olympic Dinner

Olympic Dinner, Leeds Castle, Kent

Apparently something called the “Olympics” is coming to the UK soon – anyone know anything about it? Of course. How could you miss it? It’s everywhere. The funding is debated in Parliament, the buildings are rapidly sprouting out of the East London soil, and the psychedelic logo (i like it, actually) emblazens everything from Coke Can’s to accountants’ email stationery. As you might imagine it’s also the subject of much debate in the firework world – the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Olympic Games really are as big as it gets for pyrotechnicians, so let’s hope that those in charge appoint a UK company to produce those shows. After London defying the doubters and pipping Paris to be awarded the Games there would be a certain sad irony if Groupe F – famous for their ground-breaking Millennium display at the Eiffel Tower – are on the roof of the Olympic Stadium in East London on 27th July 2012…

But however much we personally get excited about the Opening and Closing Ceremony Pyro, for the rest of the world the real fireworks will take place on the track, in the swimming pool, in the velodrome etc, so who are the rising British stars who could illuminate the London 2012 Games and push the host nation up the medal table? Well here’s a name to watch out for – Jacqui Gould. She’s a young archer from Maidstone who has fought back from serious inujury to compete at national and international level. Judging by the impressive way she started the firework display by firing a flaming arrow from Castle Island into the moat she certainly knows how to handle her bow, and we all hope that the golden fireworks inspire her to a gold medal in 2 years time. And, if you’ll permit us to dream some more, we might even be watching from the roof of that stadium as she triumphantly carries the flag into the Closing Ceremony.

“Amazing!” Victoria Wallace, Managing Director, Leeds Castle