24 replies to this topic

[David]

[Atom Fireworks]

Are these just bangers? They banned em before i was of age to buy any so i dnt remember them all that well.

[Rip Rap]

Do I miss them? You bet I do! But I dont know whether it is the bangers themselves I miss, or being nostalgic for my youth & remembering the adrenalin & excitement just from buying them!

I can remember the rush after a succesful purchase. There would be several rips to different newsagents who stocked different makes (Standard, Brocks, Astra etc). Then carefully stored in a tin in my bedroom. Then being examined carefully & selecting two or three to be "tested" every now & again in the run up to Bonfire Night. The tension after lighting the touchpaper, knowing that after the brief shower of sparks - BANG! (or sometimes "phutt"!)

I have to say that I do miss them. But I also remember that may mates & I used them fairly responsibly. The worst use I put mine to was blowing up Action Man.

[phildunford]

To be honest, never bought many, but resent not being able to buy them now...

[David]

being nostalgic for my youth & remembering the adrenalin & excitement just from buying them!

I can remember the rush after a succesful purchase. There would be several rips to different newsagents who stocked different makes (Standard, Brocks, Astra etc). Then carefully stored in a tin in my bedroom. Then being examined carefully & selecting two or three to be "tested" every now & again in the run up to Bonfire Night.

Indeed- the shopping, buying, run up to bonfire night was all great fun. (still is , of course.)

It's different these days... as with all nostalgia, it is just.. different.

[David]

To be honest, never bought many, but resent not being able to buy them now...

Yeah, I'm with you on that. Airbombs, bangers etc lacked any real "artistic" merit as fireworks, but none the less, the ongoing bans and changes in regs are to some extent a slippery slope.

[spectrum]

I may be controversial, a little unpopular and slightly off-topic but here is my view.

In their day these items were viewed, to a large degree, as nuisance fireworks, used by hooligans all too often to frighten old ladies in the street. Manufacturers agreed to a voluntary limit on sales and production - (at Astra we ignored that and employed three to four women, full time, all year round knocking them out tirelessly! - I would be surprised if our competitors didn't do the same)

A second vountary concession was the use of blackpowder as the main charge, this was NEVER compromised by Astra or any other company in the business even though it would have been perfectly legal for us to do so. The industry operated according to a sense of honour and decency, albeit with some flexibility.

The introduction of fireworks from the far east and the emergence of companies with little or no knowledge on the subject, or passion for that matter changed things very dramatically, the legal "loophole" which had existed for so long was then exploited by the importers who replaced the manufacturers, when one did this the others followed, do or die I suppose.

The nuisance fireworks as shown in the picture were not really a nuisance at all of course, they were not that loud and barely capable of causing injury - unless mis-used with extraordinary imagination. They were not, as I recall the principle cause of fireworks accidents, in fact that accollade belonged to sparklers of all things! They were exciting fireworks for boisterous boys and had been for generations, bangers in november were part of being a lad when I was young, a seasonal high point and the cause of much debate, discussion and devilment.

I left Astra's Sandwich factory when production was in full flow and returned to Astra as their Quality Manager for a short spell when they moved across to importing Malaysian made fireworks, by this time the importers were competing with one another, in some cases shamefully so by marketing increasingly louder and more audacious goods aimed at toe-rags attracted to such effects. I broadcasted these views to the horror of fireworks enthusiasts and was heavily criticised for doing so, but my point was and remains this: if the trade had stuck to the values of the manufacturers they pushed out of business, new generations could still enjoy the fireworks that had been available to their peers and ancestors, greedy practices have put paid to the items many of you love and could yet see the demise of fireworks within a generation.

I'll get off my soap-box now.... but before doing so, I recall vividly wandering down to the test site when the full time firework tester was going through banger batches, an old misery called Bill, "what's your favourite firework Bill?" I asked, "none" he replied, "I hate them all and I think bangers should be banned"

[spectrum]

One other thing I should add. We and the other manufacturers received a fair amount of mail every year, mostly complaints about value for money, misfires etc. but also technical comments.

A common theme as penned by younger consumers was banger volume, "What is the loudest banger?"

Some had studied the various models within the range and informed the technical departments of various factories of their findings, a little demon for example was louder than a 3-2-1-zero which, could be reliably thrown if counted down as indicated on the label of course - that was what the name meant !!!

I recall debates amongst other young boys on this very important subject. The truth (which we wouldn't have wanted to know) was that they were all the same. I do think that Astra bangers were louder than Standards and they were a lot cheaper.

[Rip Rap]

The nuisance fireworks as shown in the picture were not really a nuisance at all of course, they were not that loud and barely capable of causing injury - unless mis-used with extraordinary imagination. They were not, as I recall the principle cause of fireworks accidents, in fact that accollade belonged to sparklers of all things! They were exciting fireworks for boisterous boys and had been for generations, bangers in november were part of being a lad when I was young, a seasonal high point and the cause of much debate, discussion and devilment.

if the trade had stuck to the values of the manufacturers they pushed out of business, new generations could still enjoy the fireworks that had been available to their peers and ancestors, greedy practices have put paid to the items many of you love and could yet see the demise of fireworks within a generation.

I totally agree! Very well expressed.

[crystal palace fireworks]

Great posting(s) Spectrum,

Your perspective from a firework management/worker point of view is really interesting & unique.

Where I lived in Plaistow (East London) in the 60`s (Im cough cough 52 now), Astra and Standard were the main players (it was harder to find other brands, although they were about), Astra fireworks in general were always cheaper to buy, (I guess Standard spent more on TV & national newspaper advertising and had to re-coup some of the outlay on increasing there prices), but Astra always gave value for money as anything I fired as a kid.

I can remember taking Bangers to junior school (oops how naughty of me), but my memory fails me, were they sold in blue & white packs of 6, 10, 12, and individually?, and I concur that Astra had the loudest bangs, (which I guess may have had something to do with the quality of the casings & plugs), althought I never found the fatter bangers of any brand that impressive compared with the normal size.

Bangers were always the firework used most in the run up to bonfire night,...as a sort of pre-cursor the main event, and yes boys loved them (I guess they could be hidden easily as well).

In your opinion, what exactly was the `loohole` that saw the decline in UK manufacturing, and when was this? (again my memory plays tricks).

Do think there was an element of `selling out` by the trade when the importation barriers came down?

I can understand why people never liked bangers for many reasons, but if you think about it, they commanded respect by the vary nature of there being, which I guess in some ways taught us to know our limits!

You must write a book on your experiences, I hope we can use some or all of your material for the museum!

[spectrum]

Great posting(s) Spectrum,

Your perspective from a firework management/worker point of view is really interesting & unique.

Where I lived in Plaistow (East London) in the 60`s (Im cough cough 52 now), Astra and Standard were the main players (it was harder to find other brands, although they were about), Astra fireworks in general were always cheaper to buy, (I guess Standard spent more on TV & national newspaper advertising and had to re-coup some of the outlay on increasing there prices), but Astra always gave value for money as anything I fired as a kid.

I can remember taking Bangers to junior school (oops how naughty of me), but my memory fails me, were they sold in blue & white packs of 6, 10, 12, and individually?, and I concur that Astra had the loudest bangs, (which I guess may have had something to do with the quality of the casings & plugs), althought I never found the fatter bangers of any brand that impressive compared with the normal size.

Bangers were always the firework used most in the run up to bonfire night,...as a sort of pre-cursor the main event, and yes boys loved them (I guess they could be hidden easily as well).

In your opinion, what exactly was the `loohole` that saw the decline in UK manufacturing, and when was this? (again my memory plays tricks).

Do think there was an element of `selling out` by the trade when the importation barriers came down?

I can understand why people never liked bangers for many reasons, but if you think about it, they commanded respect by the vary nature of there being, which I guess in some ways taught us to know our limits!

You must write a book on your experiences, I hope we can use some or all of your material for the museum!

Thanks for the kind words.

The loophole I refer to, but didn't make that clear was the fact that flash powder was always permitted in bangers but never used owing to a gentlemans agreement amongst the manufacturers within the industry. When importers entered the trade they simply ignored this agreement, not all of them but some nonetheless and thus, once it became impossible for a blackpowder charged banger to compete with a flash-cracker, others followed suit. This, in my opinion, led to an inevitable situation whereby importers found themselves competing on nuisance value, amongst other things.

The selling out by the trade was simply inevitable but I wouldn't describe it as that, they just couldn't compete, I recall visiting Standard Fireworks on business at the time when the business was switching from home manufacture to importation, they tried to keep things going by using the Brocks brand for the imported stuff and the Standard brand for U.K. produced, whilst I was not part of the company I could still detect an overpowering sense of resignation to what was in store. Very sad.

The biggest regret in my opinion was and is the loss of skill and knowledge which accompanied the decline of the business, I do hold the opinion however that economic changes will force a reversal, to some degree and manufacture will become viable as and when the chinese are forced to pass on price rises / acknowledge the logistical difficulties associated with shipping paper tubes filled with explosive powder alongside expensive consumer electronic goods.

[RFD]

Excellent post Spectrum as usual,always thought that Brock's made the best bangers,i recall that only one shop in the town(Planet Thanet) stocked Brock's stuff, everywhere else was Astra or Standard,when the old boy at the tobacconist(remember Them) got his stock in we would all cycle over and load up,and on the way home,not once did we ever ever never never light one and chuck it in the local miz gits galvanized dustbin and slam the lid on and leg it,thinking about it wasn't once it was quite a few times,oh the irresponsibility of youth probably helped to get em banned,still i dont miss airbombs even as a spotty herbert i thought they were too loud and attracted to much attention from grownups usually followed by a stinging sensation in one ear or the other.

[David]

i dont miss airbombs even as a spotty herbert i thought they were too loud and attracted to much attention from grownups usually followed by a stinging sensation in one ear or the other.

As display fireworks, used properly, there were some very good salute effects available (big airbombs) , which were a good part of my display for a bit of volume. Usually went down very well with the crowd.

Still, they were indeed "cheap" level fireworks, and prone to mis-use.

There were airbomb substitues, sort of crackle effects/whistles etc- don't see those much now either.

[David]

Thanks for the kind words.

The loophole I refer to, but didn't make that clear was the fact that flash powder was always permitted in bangers but never used owing to a gentlemans agreement amongst the manufacturers within the industry. When importers entered the trade they simply ignored this agreement, not all of them but some nonetheless and thus, once it became impossible for a blackpowder charged banger to compete with a flash-cracker, others followed suit.

It's funny how things have gone full circle, almost , wit regards to composition- from a gentleman's agreement, we now have legal restrictions on the quantity of flashpowder.

Put another way, in terms of flash powder content*, a lot of British made fireworks from the past would have easily met the current 1.4G limits.


* they might not be passed as consumer fireworks for other reasons, of course!

[spectrum]

It's funny how things have gone full circle, almost , wit regards to composition- from a gentleman's agreement, we now have legal restrictions on the quantity of flashpowder.

Put another way, in terms of flash powder content*, a lot of British made fireworks from the past would have easily met the current 1.4G limits.


* they might not be passed as consumer fireworks for other reasons, of course!

I couldn't agree more.