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Issue:- 10 October 2013

The British Musical Fireworks Championships 2013 was a Blast!!!!!
Photograph by Patrick Trollope.

WELL what a weekend of explosive delights at this year's The British Musical Fireworks Championship in Southport, which was held over 4 October to 6 October 2013. With some of the country's top pyrotechnic teams competing it is always a breathtaking experience and this year's did not disappoint. Record crowds flocked into the resort to see the magical weekend's displays that 7 teams had rigged and prepped to light up the skies; the tension was electric... On Friday Komodo night and Pyroartistry... On Saturday, Sirotechnics, Jonathans Fireworks and Sandling Fireworks and ending the weekend's displays on Sunday, Fuse Fireworks and finally Dragon Fireworks, all of whom delivering safe and extremely effective displays that dazzled the audiences in the packed out park.. With flashes and bangs over head and on the ground, the new location of the competition in Victoria Park, home of the Southport Flower Show, made an interesting change from the traditional location, which was at the Marine Lake in Kings Gardens. Even though the park's grass did not have the reflections that the water offered, the new challenges of the site brought some new features to the competitors and gave the teams many interesting options that they could not have had on the Lakeside firing site.

This year, all the teams did an amazing job of synchronising their displays to the music, with the resulting top 3 being so good, it was hard for spectators to decide who was best! "We would have hated to be the judges." one member of the public told me following Sunday night's sparkling displays... Oddly, this year the public could be judges as well as, for the first time, the public could also vote. But sadly, those with Windows Phones could not take part, as the application that allowed the public to vote was only for iPhone and Android users. The results will be announced very soon of the "Public's Choice", and we will post them on here very soon! But winning the judges' votes and getting the title of Winner of the prestigious industry title of UK BMFC Champions 2013, we can reveal was Sirotechnics, with the defending title holder Komodo coming in at 2nd place and in 3rd place was FUSE. Well done to all 7 teams for lighting up the sky and making many magical memories for us all... But that was not all, as all three nights had 3 fantastic bands playing, 'All Jokes Aside' on Friday and Saturday, 'The Rockabilly Rebels' and 'TITORS iNSiGNiA' on Sunday. It will be interesting to see what happens next year and if this year was anything to go by you definitely don't want to miss it! To find out more about the event, go to the BMFC's website  and VisitSouthport.com  If you did attend, please do let us know what you thought of this magical event... Email us to:- news24@southportreporter.com and tell us what you think!

Click on here to see Part 1 of our photographic coverage of this fantastic event.

Editor's note:- "We have had a few reports about "Unnecessary road closures at the end of the displays." Sadly, they were not unnecessary as the roads had debris on them that could easily puncture tires, as one worker found out. Also even though the public displays had finished, if any unfired fireworks had to be set off, the area had to be kept clear."

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