STARSKY'S FIREWORKS BASH
Pictures and video clips from a tape kindly supplied by Andy Pearce with additional still shots courtesy Starsky and Chris.
UKFR member Starsky made history when he became our first member to organise a "meet" through the forum, inviting like-minded pyromaniacs round to his place for an evening of firework fun. If you're a member and read our forum, you'll know that an open invite quickly leads to a huge list of guests each bringing shed-loads of pyro gear.
Dorset 2003 may have been the mother-of-all amateur meets, but Starsky's was the original, and with Adam on hand doing his usual impersonation of Guy Fawkes, this was an evening not to be missed.
In this feature we bring together the post-display reports from the forum, so all our readers can see how mad about fireworks we are. Plus, thanks to Andy Pearce supplying a tape of the evening and doing a top job of braving rain and disconcertingly loud bangs, we have loads of pictures too, and some fantastic video clips.
Above: From left to right Starsky, Andy P, Stillsy, Starsky's
mate steve kneeling down at Stillsy's feet, Chris Lawton, Adam, Wayne, Paul
S and Waynes Mate!!
Above: Cameraman Andy. Are you lot sure he wasn't trying
to film through your neighbour's curtains from up there?
Video Grabs
You can click on a thumbnail to view the full picture
Video Clips
Above: First wave of the F2 fan cake (picture from Chris)
Please download the clip and play it on your PC, don't stream it from the server. Clips are ZIP'd, so you'll need a zip utility to uncompress them, and a suitable player for WMV and MPEG files. Please note that some of these clips have segments that are out of focus, or affected by the rain.
Clip 1: A small
mine to start the party [591Kb MPEG]
Clip 2: Lunig Ball rocket [1Mb MPEG]
Clip 3: Triple H Bomb in action [2.1Mb
MPEG]
Clip 4: Shellscape cake in action
[3.3Mb MPEG]
Clip 5: Kimbolton's Midnight Carnival
[3.5Mb MPEG]
Clip 6: Cosmic's Quantum Leap [904Kb
WMV]
Clip 7: First part of Crackling Clusters
[796Kb MPEG]
Clip 8: Spirit In The Sky [992Kb
WMV]
Clip 9: Crazy Horses [2.3Mb MPEG]
Clip 10: MLE Strobe in the rain [1.7Mb
MPEG]
Clip 11: Festival Of Dragons [ 1.7Mb
WMV]
Clip 12: As above, higher quality
clip of middle section only [1.8Mb MPEG]
Clip 13: Finale Mix [3.3Mb MPEG]
Clip 14: More Finale Mix [694Kb MPEG]
Clip 15: More Finale Mix feat. Crown
Of Rubies [2.1Mb MPEG]
Clip 16: More Finale Mix feat. Lake
Of Sapphires [4.7Mb MPEG]
Clip 17: More Finale Mix feat. Armageddon
[4.4Mb MPEG]
Clip 18: Finale's Finale - Fan Cake
[5Mb MPEG]
Clip 19: Adam (Reprise) [100Kb
WMV - no picture - just listen!]
Member Reports
Member reports, taken from the forum.
Andy P:
WoHoa!!! What a lot of stash we had! Full reports
to follow from several people I expect, but as I've just got home to London
and am still buzzing, thought I'd get in first to say a huge thank you to
everyone who was there, especially Adam and (I think) Stillsy for firing (plus
the odd little extra?! and of course Stu (Starsky) and family for being such
brilliant hosts. Will check out the video on Monday, I can only see it through
the viewfinder so far, not sure it will be of much interest to those who weren't
there but you never know!
Roll on the next one, which will be even better!
Paul S:
Well.......what can I say that is not going to get said later and probably better? The most enjoyable pyro event I've had the pleasure to be involved with! Tremendous event and great bunch of blokes.
No doubt much discussion will follow, but a couple of thank you's first: Starsky....for kindly and hospitably providing his home, superb curry and sacrificing his relationship with the neighbours. Also, for his regular safety wear demo's. Adam....what to say?....for providing Crazy Horses, unselfish firing (he missed it all for our benefit!) and his.....er.....ground breaking creativity. And for his hard graft setting out whilst I was embarrassingly stuffing my face. This guy's a gem and we must remember it. s9efc.....for supplying breathtaking, bowel opening mines and best cake of the night - Kimbolton's Carnival something! (photo finish with Shellscape's Electric Palms). Sorry about killing the cat, mate - I'm sure she meant a lot to you. CLawton.......for bringing more pyro than was humanly possible to fire in one night....even with Adam's multi-choreography. Thanks Chris, must have cost a fortune. Stillsy...for bringing the FI stuff I asked for (even though the naughty chap took Emerald Twister home before I could see it!) and for picking up the gynecology lamps on the way. Andy....for the MLE collections and Spielberg direction from Starsky's house roof (please don't edit the tape 'til I've seen the adult version). MLE....for supplying a fan cake with self disassembly for easy disposal! Pete......for the ale. kids.....well behaved! Man of the match??...........has to go to Mrs. Starsky for allowing a bunch of maniacs to invade her beautiful home (sorry about the mess missus - honestly!...really hope there is no damage to anything though). And for her admirably restrained verbal assaults on Mr. Starsky every time he mentioned buying more pyro. A sincere thank you
Enough said for now - still in shell shock I'm afraid.
Adam:
What can I say that has not been said? Thanks to Stuart & Misses for us wrecking his kitchen & that bowling green grass. Great bunch of guys and was worth the 350 Mile round trip... I would do it again no probs. I would love to see the Vid once its done and will then bore the misses to death all over Christmas..
Starsky:
Well....what can I say.... Big thank you to everyone who came, great night had by all..and my forecast of dry by 6 was spot on eh!!
It was always gonna be difficult to stop itchy fingers letting some off "to test" prior to the main bulk...but hey..thats what we were all here for! Many thanks to Andy P for his very athletic Vid Camera work!!....look forward to seeing the end result (unedited!!) Thanks to everyone, Andy P, Chris Lawton, Stillsy, Adam, Paul S, Wayne (S9EFC), Waynes Mate...I'm sure that everyone to a man enjoyed themselves.....
Probably biggest thanks has to go to Adam for donning the helmet and venturing up the garden (I think Wayne was up there too??...thanks!) ....it meant I could concentrate on TRYING to get some stills and also sorting the food out!!
Once again thanks..many useful tips picked up during the night and some future contacts for good deals!! (Mr Orbital!) (never thought I would meet anyone who liked rockets more than I do...but Chris Lawton beats me hands down - with his mobile Fireworks Dispensary!!)
Clawton:
I think 'Ground Breaking' really does seem to sum things up - in more ways that one, those that were there will chuckle, I'm sure.
What a night, what a show, what pyro. I won't repeat all the individual thanks that have gone before - just a real thanks to everyone involved. WOW, what a night. I'm sure there would be 1000's of people out there who would have paid handsomely to see a display like that (all-be-it impromptu) at a public venue. Just a quick note of thanks to Shellscape for the 'bits for you to try out'. Superb. Thankyou very much from all of us. Pyro stars of the evening had to be (IMO): Kimbolton 64 shot Midnight Carnival. Shellscape 'Electric Palms' - A very very close second. Lunig Ball Rocket - Gold Chrysanthemum - Don't think the flight was supposed to be so erratic - but what a burst - and 'hang time', wow. There would be countless others as well. After the 'individuals', the display started so it was so hard to tell what was what.
All in all, (and I repeat again) superb. Thanks.
s9efc:
just a quick note to add my thanks it was a great night and I've already ordered another of the midnight carnival a truly magnificent firework
Stillsy:
Well, what can be said that has not already been said? A fantastic night was had by all. As previously stated every single person who attended we fantastic and a good laugh.
Thanks to Stuart for making myself and everyone so welcome and his missus for putting up with us. Also for providing the majority of the safety gear which was a great help. Adam, once again left his mark also thanks mate and Wayne for volunteering (?) for firing, it was a great show and I know that you probably did not see things quite the same way as we did. Once again, hats off to you both.
Andy, great camera work (very athletic), cant wait to see the video. Everyone else were really friendly and sane(ish)!!! Stuart was right all along after viewing the weather radar every half hour or so and it did indeed stop raining at 6pm. Although we did manage to create some rather staggering clouds of our own which worked really well with a strobe strategically place behind them. Didn't reckon much to Adam's sparkler firework... all it did was fizzle.
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©2003 UK Firework Review. Video courtesy Andy Pearce. Additional picture material from Chris.