With the Queens Diamond Jubilee taking place during 2012 it looks as if this year could bring extra sales to the UK firework industry. As well as large scale organised displays many groups of people are getting together to organise street parties. A nice feature at the end of these parties will be a firework display.
A growing trend in
fireworks over recent years has been the single ignition firework. Whilst obviously all fireworks only have to be lit once, the single ignition firework is a combination of different effects choreographed to provide as it were a complete firework display, hence the term 'a display in a box' is often used to describe them. There are many variations of the single ignition display firework, however the basis is to begin with high aerial bursts to create an initial impact, followed by sequences of varied effects building up to a rapid fired spectacular finale and all achieved by the lighting of just one fuse. Duration's of these fireworks are around one to two minutes, whilst this may on paper not seem very long in real time it is surprising that when you are looking at one part of the sky just how long it is. The number of shots that these fireworks fire also varies considerably, with some only firing around 50 aerial bursts up to other which fire over 500. Quantity however is not everything, the larger the number of shots a firework fires the smaller the burst and effects tend to be. An ideal number of shots is around 100 to 200 spread over one to two minutes, this ensures that each aerial burst if of a reasonable size and that there is always something happening in the sky during the entire duration.
There is now a special licence that has to be obtained to allow suppliers to have
fireworks for sale all year round but the general public do not have to obtain any licence to organise their own firework display at times away from Bonfire Night or New Year's Eve. You can let off fireworks any day of the year but not after 11.00pm or before 7.00am with the following exceptions:-
til 1.00am following the first day of Chinese New Year, until midnight on Nov. 5th, until 1.00am on the day following Diwali Day and until 1.00am on the day following Dec. 31st.
Who do I need to tell? - It is common courtesy to inform neighbours, owners of animals, elderly residential homes etc. A note explaining the date and time of the display and an approximate duration is a good idea. A letter to the police, fire service and the coast guards/local airport (if applicable) particularly when the display is not during the main seasons is also beneficial.
