May Update Web

UPDATE Rocking the Riviera! June 2009

The setting was the French Riviera and the occasion probably the most opulent wedding party the Cote d’Azur will see all year. Fantastic Fireworks were proud to be there to give the event a dazzling 1am display. Several weeks of careful planning went into preparing one of our biggest ever shows, fired from two barges moored off the coast of St Jean Cap Ferrat. The weather was calm and the sea was placid, creating perfect conditions for the 7-minute spectacular which was choreographed to a music mix including Aerosmith’s I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing, Vanessa Mae’s Storm & Bosson's You’re One in a Million. Earlier in the evening a crescent of our silverjet fountains celebrated the special moment when the bride & groom made their wedding vows. Then they took to the dance floor for headline music acts Craig David & The Saturdays before inviting their guests outside at 1am for a special surprise. When it was all over the client came over and said ‘Thank you for giving my daughter such a wonderful display on her wedding day. You did everything I asked.’

More photos inside.

Tidy Tom is Rocket Park’s Mr Clean There is no way of knowing for sure but Rocket Park must be the tidiest fireworks site in the country, For the past few months our ops manager Tom Clark & his team have been busy making the place look spick and span. Process buildings have been painted and spruced up, new drains have been laid and the floors are so clean you could eat off them. It’s all part of Tom’s mission to give his team the best possible working conditions & FF a site to be proud of. Our insurance assessor certainly agreed. He gave us full marks for our Health & Safety procedures.

Blogging all over the world

The Fantastic Fireworks blog is reaching its first anniversary with nearly 200 posts. They have come from as far afield as Sri Lanka, China, Canada, Greece, France, Italy and South America, building a unique diary of a year in our life. The most memorable must surely be a senior firer’s description of his late night return to a dark & foggy Rocket Park after a successful November display. He likened it to the safe return of a Second World War fighter pilot after a bombing sortie, drained, exhausted and knowing he had to get up and do it all over again the following day! Read the best of the blog over the page or go to www.fantasticfireworks.co.uk

DID YOU KNOW?.... ....that we will be supplying the fireworks for Michael Ball’s birthday concert this month...that we recently helped Raymond Blanc celebrate 25 years of his hotel Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons...that we will be providing the fireworks for the Hampton Court Music Festival this month...that our Training School trains more than 50 pyrotechnicians every year...that all our displays carry £10 million public liability insurance as standard...that we are committed to community projects like tree-planting & support for local hospices...that if you would like us to help you celebrate your special event, we’re only a phone call away on 01582 485555.

Like to know more? Call 01582 485555 or log on to www.fantasticfireworks.co.uk or email [email protected]

UPDATE

These exciting new effects are the latest ‘must have’ for your show On our last visit to China we found some new effects that you won’t see anywhere else. Combining colour and noise they will give a fresh, exciting new feel to every show finale. Our specialist range of shape and effects shells will be enhanced with two new 150mm winners: A spectacular ‘Stained Glass’ effect and the beautiful hanging effect of Red & Silver Windbells. Our commitment to the wedding market will be given a boost by our brand new range of pink, lime green and lemon effects including a 65-shot fan barrage which sends up tails of silver spinners that burst in alternate lemon and pink peonies. For those requiring shows on water our new aqua cakes fire 36 bombettes that float then burst in a wonderwall of gold brocade and silver tails that burst with colour peonies. A magical sight!

The beautiful stained glass effect

Have fun, be there, make their day When I once asked a client what she wanted from us, she replied ‘I want a bit of your soul.’ It’s a response that I’ve always remembered, and not only because I frequently asked myself what she meant. After 25 years in the business I think I now know. Fireworks is a highly emotional experience but putting on a great show is only the half of it. Our clients rightly expect us to give our all to make their display that extra bit special. They want us not only to sweat blood over the design, but to be there in person on the day, to reassure them and share in their excitement & elation. For our big display in France recently, which is featured on the front page, our client, the bride’s father, was phoning me all morning wanting to know when I would

be arriving. Although our show director was already there with him, he wanted me personally to reassure him that all was going well and that there wouldn’t be any problems. When I pointed out a couple of large yachts in the bay that would spoil the view of the fireworks, he gave me the hotline to the local police launch which he had hired in for the day. Within an hour, the yachts had moved away! Like any performing art, there is always a touch of the jitters before a big display. You just have to sit and wait for the magic moment when the first fireworks shoot up. Then you know it will be all right. Some years ago I watched a short film about fishmongers at the renowned Pike Place fish market in Seattle, showing how they were able to turn a hard & messy job into a piece of street theatre. Their motto

Who’s who at Fantastic Fireworks Jon Culverhouse Steve Boothman Ali Robertson Dave Mannion David Willsher Tom Clark Linda Sherriff Kate McGing

Managing Director Display Director Senior Display Manager Display Manager Display Manager Operations Manager HR Manager Office Manager

email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected] email [email protected]

was ‘Have Fun, be there, make their day.’ The same applies to fireworks. Setting up a display can be hard work, often in cold and wet conditions. But when those first banks of shells burst in the sky, it all suddenly becomes worthwhile. These days I don’t get to press any of the buttons that make it all happen. My job is to be there with the clients, have some fun and make their day. After the display in France our client saluted me like a hero & introduced me to all his guests as if I were some sort of magician who’d just pulled off the trick of the year. It’s a very nice feeling but there are rare occasions when things don’t quite go the way you want. Not so long ago I sat & watched a display which was not the overwhelming success we had planned. The sightlines had been obscured by a massive set & we had no time to make any adjustments. Sometimes you have to accept the consequences & hope that, as in this case, you’re given another chance to redeem yourselves.

Jon Culverhouse Managing Director

Published by Fantastic Fireworks Ltd, Rocket Park, Luton LU1 4LL Tel 01582 485555 email [email protected] web www.fantasticfireworks.co.uk

More photos from our French Riviera display

Almost a year in the life of Fantastic Fireworks The Italian Job!! 07 Sep 08 9.27am The setting may be Italy but Mini it wasn’t!! The olive groves and vineyards of Tuscany lit up with a chase of gold to celebrate a wedding that would match anything Hollywood could offer. To fire the show and create the spectacle a 100m sq area of ultra dry scrubland had to be scraped down to bare earth and the team worked all day to produce another ‘Fantastic’ result. But now the current phase of my European campaign draws to an end and it's back to airport lounges and seats with no legroom as I make my way back to Manchester. Thanks to all our partners, especially Paul at Nanos and Steve at Parente, who have made this a week to remember for us. Posted by Steve B The Running Man 02 Oct 08, 2.15pm Today I have decided to do my bit for charity. I will be running 5km whilst dressed as Santa for The Pasque Charity and Keech Cottage hospice in Luton. It is supposed to be a Fun Run but as always my competitive nature makes me think I will take it all too seriously. Posted by Tom Target For Tonight 13 Nov 08, 9.30am It was while firing to The Dam Busters that it occurred to me. Rocket Park during the season resembles nothing so much as a WWII bomber base 'somewhere in England'. Especially in the early hours of the morning, when the vans return, low on fuel and covered in mud, thundering in through the gates, back from their 'missions'. They 'taxi' down to 'dispersal', and the crews climb down. grimy, sweaty, completely exhausted, to be met by Station Adjutant Chris with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. "How was it ?" " Bloody awful. Weather was bad, worse than

expected - couldn't see the audience, let alone the fireworks. Rain got in the electrics - had to fire by hand. And then the radios failed. Wizard show though." "Well done chaps - now get off and have some sleep. We'll need maximum effort again tonight." Posted by DickB A Changing World 30 Nov 08, 1.27am (Liuyang Time) I have eaten some strange but extremely nice dishes in the cause of Fantastic Fireworks over the last few days. Dog, goat and perch to name just three - and all very tasty I might add, but one of the most memorable things about this trip, other than the fireworks and the hospitality, is the obvious way in which our world is changing... I last visited China two years ago and remembered a country that was 'an emerging economy' with many obvious signs of the gulf between those that have and those that haven't. In those two years the changes here have been immense with many new high rise appartment blocks appearing on the Liuyang skyline, along with a really noticeable increase in the number of cars on the road and the number of people shopping on streets that now boast names like Armani and McDonalds. Later today we leave the home of fireworks and fly to the southern China city of Beihai before travelling back to the UK next week knowing that I will take back memories of a more prosperous China than I did on my last visit. Posted by Steve B Wispa makes a sparkling return 21 Dec 08, 1.03am A big thank you and well done to everyone from Fantastic Fireworks who took part in the Wispa TV commercial, which was aired last night. Paul Roberts & his team were but a few of the 300 volunteers whose efforts were squeezed into 90 seconds of colourful capers to celebrate the return of the chocolate bar. We can all be proud of the fact that the fireworks occupied a full 30 seconds and looked absolutely stunning. Perhaps the best moment was seeing the Wispa name sparkling away centre stage. This

...the best of our blog from 2008/2009 was made at our Rocket Park HQ by one of our new technicians, Turney Logan, who can be delighted at seeing his handiwork on prime time TV. Posted by Jon Going green! 14 Jan 09, 4.55pm Here at Fantastic Fireworks we are starting off the New Year the way in which we intend to carry on! As of today, we are starting a new recycling initiative, one that will not only help the environment, but also benefit a brilliant charitable cause too. So a double-whammy of good things rolled up into one easy-peasy task! We are collecting up all used toners, cartridges, PDA’s and old mobile phones and we will be sending them off to an organisation that will not only recycle each item, but donate a percentage of the re-sale cost to our chosen charity. Posted by Kate Terry camps out for a record 27 Feb 09, 8.46pm Firework stories don't come more bizarre and boggling than the one related to me today by our long-time pyro-pal Terry McDonald. Terry has led a long and varied life on the island of Jersey, from a spell as a bomb disposal officer & drugs-buster in the CID to his current job as an undertaker. He is also the island's most senior pyrotechnician. But nothing could have prepared him for his present bind. This time two years ago Terry was gearing up to break the world rocket record created by Fantastic Fireworks in 2006. He'd bought 110,000 rockets from a UK supplier and all was set for the record attempt. But then local environmentalists rained on his parade and Jersey pulled the plug. That was just the start of Terry's problems. He was sitting on 110,000 rockets with no means of paying for them and nowhere legal to store them. That was back in August 2oo7. Today Terry is still the custodian of the rockets, which are stored in a quarry and guarded by

him nightly from his caravan. His supplier is threatening legal action to recover the debt and the state of Jersey is threatening to destroy the rockets. Taking my call between shifting bodies in the mortuary, Terry is cheerful but defiant. 'I set out to beat your rocket record,' he tells me, 'but instead of that I'm heading for a record 600 nights in my caravan!' And he has no intention of budging. 'I won't move until Jersey pay me the money they owe.' Judging by the present impasse, Terry could be facing many more nights in his caravan. Posted by Jon We take on the Hamster in TV rocket duel 4 March 09, 10.59pm Amazing what you can find on YouTube. I’ve just discovered a clip in which one of our rockets is pitted against TV stuntman Richard Hammond. British daftness at its best as the Hamster takes on our Whopper rocket and a golf ball to see who's fastest over 250 metres. Hammond is propelled by a 170mph motorbike in a stunt for the TV series Brainiac on Sky. I won't spoil the fun by revealing the result. Just let me say that after watching it you may want to call Hayley in our Mail Order department on 0800 511 511 and place an order! Posted by Jon Red Nose Day update 24th April 09, 4.55pm This week saw a big fat cheque sent off to the 2009 Comic Relief appeal on behalf of Fantastic Fireworks, surely the loveliest of fireworks companies there is! A lot of fun was had raising the money through our 'Auction of Promises'. Just today I had a lovely time sitting in the FF garden with Gail, basking in the sunshine, listening to the birds sing, whilst receiving my expert knitting lesson! I am now the proud creator of 3 inches of scarf! Posted by Kate