Archive

11/02/2025 In

Belgravia Birthday Party

It was back in 2009 that Alchemy first produced a display for this client in their Belgravia back garden. Just a few doors down from Margaret Thatcher (at the time), it’s rare for a central London home such as this to be blessed with an amount of outdoor space. Sure, space is very limited so on both occasions material choice and safety has been paramount but as you can see from the video below, we can still produce an amazing spectacle even in the smallest of spaces.

In 2009 we were tasked with designing a show to what can only be described as French themed accordion music. You can watch that video here. This time, mariachi music was the order of the day (we DO love a challenge!) Our good friend Peter Stone was tasked with making the large ’80’ in lancework at pretty much a moments notice and we pulled out all the stops to turn this around quickly. We used flame machines, cold spark machines and traditional, close proximity pyro both from the garden and the pool house roof and combined it all to create what we think was a superbly executed display which the client was absolutely delighted with (as were we!)

11/02/2025 In

RAF Fairford

We were thrilled to be back at RAF Fairford to help them celebrate their Family Day in 2024. Having fired RAF Croughton’s Independence Day fireworks for many years it was great to add another American airbase to our portfolio.

The show that we produced had to be low noise due to the proximity of local residents who already endure some upheaval due to the annual airshow. There are also sheep and horses in the nearby fields so a quiet display was definitely on the cards.

Choreographed to a bespoke mix of recent hits and some classics we set the sky alight with an amazing array of colours and effects. The majority of our summer fireworks displays are low-noise so we have an enormous range of quieter effects to choose from.

Fireworks bursting in the skies above Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute
24/01/2016 In

The Isle Of Bute

One of the best things about this job is that you go to some amazing places that otherwise you probably would never go to – and the Isle of Bute is one of the places. Absolutely stunning scenery all around and this display was fired at Mount Stuart – an astounding Victorian Gothic mansion.

There were the obligatory hoops that we needed to go through to get the fireworks onto the island. But with an amount of preparatory work done at HQ before we arrived, the ferry company knew to expect us and we had all the paperwork in hand ready for the crossing. Of course, fireworks couldn’t go on the normal passenger ferry. Instead, a further two hour drive from the passenger ferry terminal around the beautiful Scottish coastline took us to the terminal that could accept dangerous goods. A short 5 minute crossing and we were safe and sound on the Isle of Bute.

We had allowed a day for the crossing and a day for rigging the display. The day of the crossing was warm and bright but the forecast for the day of the display was, you guessed it, heavy rain. To be fair, the rain did hold off until much later in the day once we had the show rigged and fully waterproofed. And it did only rain for an hour (Met Office got it wrong again!). The skies cleared for the display and the wedding guests were treated to an awesome spectacle, beautifully choreographed to a Scottish themed mix of music – well, what else?!

Here’s the video featuring DRONE FOOTAGE, what do you think?

And here’s the rest:

 

Gold finale fireworks for Madonna's 50th birthday fireworks display
15/08/2014 In

Madonna’s Birthday

It’s not every day that we get to produce a fireworks display for one of the world’s most famous celebs so we weren’t going to turn down the opportunity – even with only 3 weeks to organise it! The South of France was the location for this extravaganza and the firing site was a barge moored in the Mediterranean sea just of the coast. Designed and fired to a pre-recorded mix of Madonna’s favourite tracks (none of which were her own creations) we used wireless technology to fire the display remotely from a safety boat outside the exclusion area.

 

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