2021 runners-up at The British Musical Fireworks Championships
In our first ever professional fireworks competition, we came second!
The British Musical Fireworks Championship held in Southport is a prestigious UK competition for professional fireworks companies. Over the years, many of the UK’s top professional companies have competed, with some going on to compete in Global Fireworks Competitions.
Five competitors came together to compete over the 24th to 26th September in Victoria Park, Southport. Each company had to submit a musical theme and a show design before the event then five judges would mark the displays over the three-night competition.
The official rankings;
1st place, Dragon Fireworks from Kent
2nd place, Sonic Fireworks from Devon
3rd place, Star Fireworks from Berkshire
We took a team of ten up to Merseyside in 3 vans and a minibus. Our show was prepped on Saturday and rigged all day Sunday next door to Star Fireworks. They fired first, followed by our display on Sunday evening.
“It was a fantastic experience. We learned a lot and had a great time meeting other pyrotechnicians from across the UK.” Mike Glover said. “Of course, it was stressful at times, but I couldn’t be more proud of our team. To come away with second place in our first competition is amazing.”
The British Musical Fireworks Championship is one of the two major competitions in the UK, with the other being The British Fireworks Championships in Plymouth. The difference between them is that the Southport event has its fireworks displays set to music, known in the trade as a pyro-musical display.
Designed on the computer with the audio track and fired wirelessly by sophisticated firing systems. Our display had a James Bond theme with a mix of old and new Bond songs also a few famous clips from the Bond actors.
Across the competition, competitors use an estimated two tonnes of explosives with a total weight of fireworks used that exceeds 10 tonnes. Each show requires around five kilometres of wire to connect the electrical circuits and 10-15 technicians working for over 12 hours to set up the display.
Spectator Michael Paice said of Sonic’s display, “Not one of but THE best display I have EVER seen, and I’m not saying that just because I’m Bond aficionado.”
Will we compete in the Plymouth Championships? At the moment we don’t know but based on our experience in Southport the crew are raring to compete some more, so watch this space!
- See more photos and video (coming soon)
- Official British Musical Fireworks Championship 2021 website
