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How the devil have you managed to get to be the age that you are Col, I thought I was being wreckless eating three shredded wheat   Rog

You be careful Rog, next thing you'll be eating after 8 mints before 8 o'clock.

Having spent a stressful night trying to calm two terrified dogs I would cheerfully insert the fireworks into the place where the sun doesn't shine and give the big bang brigade a bonfire night to rem

Thing is, looking back, most of the fireworks we bought in the 50s and 60s were a bit pathetic.  Not many of us could afford the big rockets that cost a quid or more each.

 

In more recent times, the import of Chinese Fireworks seems to have resulted in much louder bangs etc., and relatively more affordable stuff.  I first spotted this in the mid 70s when I bought a small box of fireworks branded 'Brocks'.  Most of them were the usual 5 second fizzers, but there was also a packet containing 12 tiny rockets. 

I disdainfully put one of them in a little bottle and lit the fuse expecting something less that the old style 'threepenny' rocket.  I was a bit surprised to say the least when the thing shot to a huge height and then made a bang twice as loud as a standard 'Airbomb.'  I was.. as they say 'well impressed'. 

 

Things got out of hand for a decade or so after that and I believe Govt.  limited the power of these things a bit quite recently. It's certainly been quieter round here in the last few years.

 

But, the things are now easy to buy and relatively cheap, so they get used all year round.  I wouldn't object to more regulation.

 

Col

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I don't believe fireworks per se should be banned, we have tried that with all sorts of other things and it hasn't worked.

 

But I do believe that the size of fireworks available to non commercial organisations i.e. back garden stuff should be of a limited size. That way folks can still enjoy their own party but with a lot less danger.

 

It would be quite easy to do too, bring in a weight limit after which they would fall under the 'explosives act' much like black powder for old fashioned front stuffers.

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2 hours ago, denshaw said:

When we were kids we would get 2 or 3 rockets and fasten them together and then light them all at the same time.

 

Trick was to build a multi stage affair.  Decent sized rocket with a flat top but 'stars',. Open the paper on the top and attach a smaller rocket on top by a single turn of sellotape.

Then each should set off the next and the sellotape burns away providing 'launch vehicle separation'.  Trouble was that they were often coming straight back down at you by the time the final stage fired  :)

 

 

 

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How the devil have you managed to get to be the age that you are Col, I thought I was being wreckless eating three shredded wheat

 

Rog

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Wasn't the aeroplane just wizzard, Oztalgian!  Also loved the Roman Candles - perfect for a gunfight!  Kids today think they invented risky escapades. :crazy:

 

 

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Round here, they call Jumping Jacks 'Rip Raps'.  They know NOTHING!!!  :laugh:

 

Re: the picture above.  Recognise most of those fireworks.  Isn't the Stripey one under the Aeroplane a 'Union Jack'.  From memory, some of those were described as 'With Loud Report'..  :)

 

Can see a 'Vesuvius' and also under the Aeroplane.. wasn't the green one an 'Emerald Fountain'  ?

One under the Jumping Jack seems to have a red wooden handle and was probably labelled 'May be Held in a Gloved Hand'  or somesuch.

 

All good fun.

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These things will blow your socks off at fifty yards, bangers off a set of "rope bangers" bird scarers

 

P1060262.jpg

 

only two inches by half inch but they do pack a punch

 

Rog

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Someone near us has just set of such a lot of very loud fireworks at once, I wondered if they had done the whole box accidentally!   I’m not joking.  Unfortunately our 2 cats had just gone outside so I expect they are quivering under some bushes somewhere.  We’ve called out for them (the cats, not the neighbours!) but no reponse as yet.

I mentioned  this on our local Facebook site and and had a charming reply ... “It’s November 5th get over it” 

Of course I’ll get over it you silly man but I  still feel sorry for the cats.

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EMEB social club used to have display on the sports ground. No idea where it came from but one year they had a lifeboat maroon, not a small thing it needed the launch tube buried in the ground. For some reason it didn't fire and they guy in charge went to have a look. Bad, bad idea. As he approached the tube it went off and almost decapitated him. The bang set off car alarms, made kids cry and strong men flinch. "F@~n 'ell" was one of the more polite exclamations, several were in regard to the guys parentage.

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Having spent a stressful night trying to calm two terrified dogs I would cheerfully insert the fireworks into the place where the sun doesn't shine and give the big bang brigade a bonfire night to remember.

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I’m with you there Woody, our little Jack was put to sleep a couple of months ago but for 14 years we’ve had to stay home every night with him between Halloween and just after New Year’s Eve because when we did go out for a few hours in the evening during that time the house would get wrecked.  However our previous dogs haven’t been affected by fireworks at all.  
A little edit ..... around our neighbourhood fireworks are let off at random times, hence us having to stay in with the dog for 2 months.  We now have freedom, but we’re in lockdown!! 

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I'm hoping that since there are no organised displays this year, last night was it for the firework merchants.  There were certainly a lot more home fireworks in my neck of the woods last night since the two local venues where organised displays are held were closed.  It was foggy this morning and the added smog from the fireworks hanging in the air made it worse.

 

As children, it was always just 5th November then it was over. Like everything else nowadays, it's become a weeks-long event.  My cats are in before dark anyway and they didn't seem too bothered by the noises but several years ago, a neighbour's dog escaped from the house on bonfire night, terrified by the noise. Although exhaustive enquiries were made and rewards for information were offered, he never found her, nor did he glean any news of what happened to her. Very distressing.

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