British Musical Fireworks Championship 2015

WHAT: British Musical Fireworks Championship
WHEN: Friday 2nd October, Saturday 3rd October & Friday 4th October 2015
WHERE: Victoria Park, Southport
WHAT TIME: 1800 - 2130
COST: VARIOUS – PLEASE REFER TO THE WEBSITE

The first weekend in October sees the best of the best of the British Firework fraternity battle it out for supremacy in the skies over the North West Coast of the UK for the title of British Musical Fireworks Champion 2015.

This is no ordinary competition as the work towards these events goes on for months and many sleepless nights experienced before the final ‘show’ is decided upon. All seven competing teams are tasked with creating a unique 20 minute firework display choreographed to a music track which is marked by a specialist judging panel on the synchronicity between the melody and the pyro. The ‘Theme’ musical selection and a list of pyro is submitted for approval months ahead of the event.

The competing teams this year are as follows:

FRIDAY 2nd October 2015

SMArt Pyrotechnics – Salisbury based defending champions from 2014. This team had a particularly good 2014 as they won the International Festival of Pyrotechnic art in Courchevel, France in February and then the BMFC in October.

The Fireworkers – New to the competition they replace Fireworx Scotland. This Driffield based display company have a few tricks up their sleeve so watch them closely.

SATURDAY 3rd October 2015

Fantastic Fireworks – This Hertfordshire based highly experienced team of professionals took the crown in the first ever Southport BMFC way back in 1997 and from 2006 – 2010, they held the Guinness World Record for the largest number of rockets launched in 30-seconds until the title was taken by Cebu in the Philippines in 2010. Lets hope that they will be able to bring home the silverware again in this their 30th anniversary year.

Midnight Storm – Barrhead, Glasgow based display firework company have been providing the pyro lovers north of the border for more than 25 years but this is the first time they will be showing their wares at the BMFC. Bring it on SCOTLAND.

Selstar Fireworks – Chichester based company who have won the British Firework Championships in Plymouth a number of times plan to show the rest of the competitors their heels in this magical showdown. Established in 1995, they are in their 20th year in the business of entertaining and wowing crowds all over the UK. They even provided the fireworks for the filming of a certain British Film about a Spy!? We expect to see some exceptional pyro during this display and this is one I will personally be watching out for the video footage for.

SUNDAY 4th October 2015

Brightfire Pyrotechnics – Brighton based company that was originally called Brighton Fireworks have been in the display business since 2001 and have built up their customer base to include TV and Film production companies as well as an A list of celebrity customers to rival OK magazine so it is something of a surprise to learn that they have never before competed in this event. Given their flair for creating everything from glass to welded pieces, you can be certain that this is going to be something spectacular.

F1 Pyro – Another Brighton based pyro specialist who again, join the list of the ‘new to the competition’ ranks for this competition at least having won one of MLE Pyrotechnics events at Stanford Hall.

The winners of the event in 2014 was the team representing SMArt Pyrotechnics who will be the first to fire, offering them the chance to show their considerable pyro prowess once again.

Unusually, three out of the seven teams competing this year are new to this magnificent competition so it will be refreshing to see some new blood on the competition circuit and of course, they are an unknown quantity so expect the unexpected. Every year, the standard is pushed to another level as they bring true British pyrotechnic theatre to the masses with Chinese, European and British made effects and of course, some clever use of lancework.

As one who is not a fan of seeing just how many fireworks you can get into the sky at any one time, I sincerely hope that they create beautiful, symmetrical displays with a feature which sets them apart from the rest. Only time will tell.

If you can get along to Southport to see the displays first hand – do it! Sadly, from mid September, we at Epic are so busy running around like the proverbial headless chickens that we don’t have the opportunity to get over to the North West coast but as soon as the footage and photographs are available, we will post them for you all to enjoy.

Details for ticket pricing and venue do’s and don’ts are available from the Visit Southport website.