Philippines 2016

Our year started out in the Philippines where we took only three of our own crew as the organisers supplied us with a ten strong team of local talent that had irreplaceable talent when it come to pyro, so much so they even wowed Mark which is a hard task in its self.

As usual with any competition the design itself took many hours for the 20 minute spectacular and choosing the product was a different concept as it would be sourced and shipped direct from China. Luckily, we have plenty of contacts who gave us all the relevant videos of the fireworks and the information required for the design work such as lift time and pre fire.

While our stay in Manila was a brief one the crew worked tirelessly over the two day set up on the barges and I think they all lost at least a stone from just sweating in the heat. The crowd were sceptical of a new British team taking part in their favoured competition but the show itself was a blow out with some beautiful effects and the biggest finale Pyrotex had ever done. It was a phenomenal experience for all involved and the crowd absolutely loved it and so did we!

The Facebook live stream has changed the way we at home get to experience competitions. it not only now allows us to view the show live with everyone else but has expanded the audience of fireworks competitions beyond locals and pyromaniacs, but also means that rather than waiting for that call or text telling you the results you get to watch as the winner is announced.

Come awards time the crew were nervous but they did amazingly well and after many hours spent scripting and hard work on site, we WON and were awarded with the TITLE “7th Philippine International Pyromusical Competition Grand Champions 2016”

A brilliant start to the year, though Mel, Mark and Andy didn’t appreciate returning to the freezing climate of England in February! While in the Philippines we made a lot of friends and as ever discovered more than we could ever hope for in the ever-growing Pyrotechnic community.