Firing fireworks simultaneously

Here is a recent video of one of our test firing sessions. As part of our on-going quality controil we frequently test fireworks to ensure that the quality control has been maintained by the manufacturer. The fireworks will have been tested in China prior to shipment to the UK but we find it does no harm at all to check that the products perform as we expect them to. 

We recently batch tested some of our Maximum Firepower fireworks. We had had 10% of the stock tested in China but still wanted to do our own testing under the conditions that our customers would be firing them under. We randomly pulled 5 from stock as we also wanted a new video for our web site. However we did let the last two off together to give you an idea of how much more spectaular fireworks can be if you fire two simultaneously. No special equipment was used to light the fireworks just the normal portfire firework lighters. The fireworks were placed just a few metres apart behind one another. It was just a  simple case of lighting one and then moving quickly to the second one to light that. The fuse that is fitted to our fireworks has a burn time of between 5 and 15 seconds. We try to aim for a burn time of around 10 seconds so that you have plenty of time to move away to a safe distance. As fireworks are all hand made there can be variations in the firing time of the same firework. It is not therefore worth panicking to try and light two identical fireworks at exactly the same moment. As long as you are within a couple of seconds, as in this case you've just as much chance of them ending together.

Fireworks for St. George's Day 23rd April 2013

The medieval legend of St George and the dragon is over a thousand years old. At a spring in Libya the local people offered sheep to a dragon that had its nest nearby, in order to draw water. When there were no more sheep to offer the dragon the local people drew lots as to who would be offered to the dragon instead. The Princess Cleolinda’s name was drawn and despite protest from the King she was duly put before the dragon. Right at that moment St George was riding by. He got down from his horse, killed the dragon and saved the princess.

George's Day is celebrated on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in AD 303. Whilst other countries enthusiastically celebrate St George’s Day, the celebrations in England (where he is the patron Saint) had declined by the end of the 18th century and it is only in recent years that it has started to regain its original popularity. In the early 15th century St George’s day in England was celebrated as a national holiday and feast comparable to Christmas, so it still has some way to go.

All of this talk of celebration brings us on to the subject of fireworks. National events in England in recent years, such as the 2011Royal Wedding and the 2012 Diamond Jubilee have encouraged communities to get together and hold community parties and fireworks have quickly become a popular form of entertainment to end the events with.

Whilst large civic organisations can afford large scale professional displays, smaller communities have a more restricted budget to work to. The recent advance in firework design though, enable smaller groups or organisations to put on a professional looking display for a fraction of the cost. Commonly know as the ‘single ignition box’, ‘display in a box’ or a ‘single fuse firework’, this style of firework has made it easy to fire a continuous aerial firework display lasting up to 2 minutes by lighting just one fuse. Several of this type of firework can easily be lit one after each other to provide a display lasting 10 minutes and there is no longer a need to run around with a lighter to light them as there are now simple to use remote control firing systems that cost just a few pounds.

So ‘Cry God for Harry, England and St George’ and lets celebrate our patron saint and have some fun.

Our Spring Sale is up and running. It will end on 30th May so take advantage of our bargain prices whilst available. If you buy now but do not want to take delivery or collect your fireworks until later in the year, that is not a problem as we will store your order free of charge until required.

So what has been happening at Jordans Fireworks recently. Well we have been doing some testing of fireworks, the most spectacular being two Maximum Firepowers let off together (video to follow shortly). We are still waiting for one of our major suppliers to confirm their 2013 range so we have not yet finalized our range for the coming Bonfire Night season yet but hope to shortly.

Also, here is a video of some of our old dummy fireworks, which are basically just empty cardboard tubes being put to great effect in the EU.

All ready for our 2013 Spring Firework Sale.
We have been working hard for the last few weeks getting everything ready for our annual Spring sale. We have picked up some fantastic bargains from importers that had had orders cancelled. The van has been on some interesting trips, including a couple of journeys to pick up orders from RAF Alconbury. This is a fascinating site and even more dramatic on a foggy day when huge bomb proof shelters appear out of the mist. Visit the bunker tours site for more pictures such as this;

We have printed off the order forms and have got the email ready to send out. The printers will be delivering the flyers next week so we will be spending several days stuffing envelopes ready to post.

Existing customers and people who have asked to receive details will be in the first wave of notifications, so if you would like to receive details please contact us.

In this year's sale will a barrage pack that I would encourage everyone to buy as it is such fantastic value and contains such good fireworks, a few single ignitions including a twin pack of the fan effect variety at less than half srp plus some giant rockets. Stock of some of the items is very limited and it is a first come first served basis, but you can buy fireworks now and have us store them for you free of charge until later in the year if you wish.

When to buy fireworks?

These days you can buy fireworks all year round from specialist firework suppliers. We at Jordans Fireworks are open all year round a keep a good selection of fireworks throughout the year. When however is the best time to buy fireworks? The fireworks available in the UK are almost without exception manufactured in China and deliveries in to the UK are mainly scheduled around August and September ready to take advantage of those sales periods. Whilst major firework suppliers like ourselves have placed our orders with manufacturers up to 12 months previous to the main sales period it can be a case of not knowing exactly what you have got until you open the box and let one off. We therefore, particularly with new fireworks, advise customers to wait until we have tested one before they order one. We suggest around August and September is the ideal time to start planning what fireworks you would like for your November display. Certainly by October lines are starting to sell out and once they have gone there may not be a chance for the supplier to re-stock for probably 6 to 9 months. You can leave buying your fireworks for your November display right up to the last minute, but would we advise it? No we would not. Buying earlier will give you the best selection and we will have plenty of time to go through with you the various fireworks available as well as suggesting firing orders. Whilst we still offer, as best we can, that service right up to November 5th, you can imagine how manic things can get at our busiest time of the year.

One of the best times of the year we suggest to order some of your fireworks is during our annual Spring Firework Sale. We run our sale for six weeks and have offers that are well below even our normal special offer prices. In our sale we concentrate on larger aerial barrages, larger rockets and large packs of aerial barrages. These types of fireworks form the cornerstone of displays from £100 to many thousands. You can buy fireworks in our sale and choose to either have them delivered (or you can collect from our store) later in the year so that you do not have to store them for several months. We store orders for customers free of charge.

If you require fireworks away from the main periods then we suggest that you should order at least a  week before your display so that we can arrange delivery to you and you can familiarise yourself with the fireworks before using them.

New blog for Jordans Fireworks

We have for some time been running our blogspot and also posting articles of interest about fireworks but not on our blogspot, so we are now bringing them together and they will also feed to a blog section on our main fireworks web page so that you can easily see new items and click through for further information.

Interesting items about the science of fireworks;