Welcome to the Galactic Update for June '24. If I'm honest, we've had a quiet one. Don't get me wrong, cogs are turning in the background, as always as we approach season time, however when I asked my colleague, Harry what he thought I should mention in this update; it was suggested I let everyone know that this time of year lots of the staff are taking their annual holidays and getting a bit of sun!
A Trip Back In Time
We had a tidy at our Dinnington Store and moved some of the countless collectable boxes that Nigel, the boss has accumulated over the years. We found four huge heavy plastic tubs filled to the brim with binders. Each binder is filled to the brim with old firework brochures and price lists dating back to the 60's and 70's. I think he's got a copy of every Standard Brochure from the 60's through to the early 00's, alongside loads of other brands such as Brocks, Bright Star, some old Wessex ones and even some 'newer ones such as Cosmic.
Flicking through these is so interesting. You can see, first of all at the beginning of the 70's when they change the pricing to account for decimalisation, there are no images in these earlier brochures, just text and prices, aimed at shopkeepers rather than the end user. In the early 90's there's a sticker stuck on the front of the brochure warning that VAT is now included in the pricing at 17.5% and as we approach the mid 90's more and more images begin appearing in the catalogues and they seem more akin to something we'd have today.
I've scanned in the 1984 Standard brochure there are some stock images in there and pricing was the naming leaves a lot to be desired! When it comes to the quantities in each box they state it in 'dozens' for some odd reason. Finally when it comes to pricing each item is given a size, which corresponds to a price, they don't like making it easy!
The range and selection itself is foreign to anyone who's solely familiar with modern ranges. There are no cakes/barrages ae we know them today, it's Roman Candles, Catherine Wheels and fountains along with rockets. However there are more 'setpieces' such as the 'Two Battleships In Action' these are akin to what we call 'lancework' these days and is becoming less and less seen as it's difficult to both produce at scale and ship/transport carefully without some little piece falling off and causing the whole thing to fail.
Still with the footer proudly displaying 'made in Huddersfield' it's a different industry to the one we know today. Plus, when you take inflation in to account I think the displays and packages we sell today are great value when the smallest pre-made display was £120 in 1984!
Have a look at the full PDF here
There are hundreds of these brochures each one a little nugget of firework history from the past. I can only apologise that I can't feasibly scan and upload them all!
New Fireworks For 2024
Sky Monkeys With Exploding Coconuts
Taking quite a 'direct' naming inspiration from Nigel's favourite firework name ever, the Sky Monkeys With Exploding Coconuts is a max weight, 56 shot tribute to its namesake from the Golden Lion range in the 90's.
Huge, gorgeous palms fill the sky with the highest quality colours lighting up the night. Relentlessly increasing it both pace and volume before a mighty crackle rounds it off.
Thunder Blitz
Thunder Blitz does what it says on the tin. Ear-pounding, breaks ceaselessly filling the night sky. Thunder Bllitz isn't a one trick pony however, it's got vivid peony bursts and a gorgeous strobing flutter to satisfy both sight and sound!
This one being a 2-part compound and being a full 2kg NEC, we're expecting to sell this beast for about £149.99.
Thanks for taking the time to read what (albeit little) we've been up to this month. I'll be sure to email next month again with another update as we approach that exciting time of year.
James
