June 9, 2013

Back To School With Rev Ron Lancaster

Here are some very interesting videos by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) hosted by Reverend Ron Lancaster from Kimbolton fireworks - who was recently presented with a plaque in honour of his "services to pyrotechnics" for over 50 years.

The video below is the full 90-minute lecture of Reverend Ron Lancaster's amazing "Chemistry of Fireworks".

For those of you that don't have the time to watch the full 90-minute video, here are some of the best bits we thought you might like:

The different types of Catherine wheels.

The different types of rockets.

The different types of Roman candles.

The different types of lancers and cakes.

The different types of firework shells.

Ron's 'love affair' with fireworks began at a very early age. He was raised as a child in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, and coincidently, his house was located between two of the leading fireworks companies at that point in time, Lion Fireworks and Standard Fireworks. During the second world war, Ron would wander into the firework factories after school and be intrigued by watching the firework technicians working on military pyrotechnics. At weekends, when the firework factory was closed, Ron would collect up the used parachutes from the military flares and the empty cases - like most young children back then, they were fascinated with pyrotechnics as there wasn't much else to do.

Something I can completely relate to :)