FIREWORK CHAMPIONS – NEWBY HALL – THE COMPETITORS

WHAT: FIREWORK CHAMPIONS – NEWBY HALL – THE COMPETITORS
WHY: NATIONAL FIREWORK COMPETITION
WHERE: NEWBY HALL, RIPON, NORTH YORKSHIRE, UK
WHEN: SATURDAY 21st JULY 2018
TIME: 6:00PM TO 10:30PM

Firework Champions started in 2002 and has continued to go from strength to strength, bringing together the best in the fireworks industry to share best practice and of course, spy on one another and chat about new products brought in over the winter months. It really does give them all the chance to shake it up and battle for bragging rights.

The setting for the first of the amazing Firework Champions events is the beautiful Newby Hall, just outside Ripon in North Yorkshire.

This beautiful house was built in the late 17th century by Sir Christopher Wren and was further extended and adapted by Robert Adam in the later 18th century who added the now world-renowned
neoclassical features. Today, the house is home to Richard and Linda Compton who moved into the house in 1999 with their children and continue to oversee all the running and maintenance of the
house and gardens.

The house has a rich past and was notably a recommended place of safety for the Royal Family during the war. More recently, Newby Hall was amongst the filming locations for two of THE best dramas on TV in the last couple of years (IMHO); Peaky Blinders (give me an oooosh ladies!) which is early 20th-century gangland life and Victoria, about the reign and life of Queen Victoria.

The competitors for this heat of the Firework Champions calendar are as follows:

BLAZE FIREWORKS – WAKEFIELD, WEST YORKSHIRE

A small firm from Wakefield in West Yorkshire which was established in 2014 and their mission is to offer exceptional quality pyrotechnics at a price you can afford. They competed at a Firework Champions Event at Newby Hall in 2016 and were narrowly beaten. However, as a relative newcomer to the professional firework world, they will I'm sure to have more than a couple of surprises up their sleeve – one to watch.

BLITZ FIREWORKS – CREWE, CHESHIRE

Fifteen years of experience and they are a retailer as well as display specialists. This company recently opened a new retail outlet and now supply fireworks, fancy dress and specialist balloons. In 2014 they picked up back to back wins at the Firework Champions events at Belvoir Castle and then the British Firework Championships in Plymouth. Last year, they collected another win at the Arley Hall Firework Champions event. Their displays are known for being clean and crisp pyro with exceptional choreography and timings which are on another level altogether. Let’s see what they can bring to the table as the most experienced competing team but rest assured, they know it is anyone’s game.

SPECTRUM FIREWORKS & SPECIAL EFFECTS – JARROW, TYNE AND WEAR

Clients include Sunderland FC, local councils and of course more than a smattering of festivals around the country. The team have not competed at Firework Champions before so it will be refreshing to see what they have on offer for the crowds at Newby Hall.

The closing display is provided by event organisers, MLE Pyrotechnics from Daventry who has a fantastic international pedigree competing last year at St Brevin in France after a win there in 2014 thoroughly enjoyed the experience once again when they picked up 2nd place for their efforts but there was some controversy as the crowd clearly thought that MLE should have had first. Here in the UK this incredibly busy team have been running the Firework Champions events for years having competed and won in 2006 and 2007 and then going on to win the British Firework Championships in Plymouth in 2005 and again in 2011.

Get along to Newby, especially if you live in the North and show your support to some of the best pyrotechnic display teams in the country showing their wares.