New Year's Eve 2010 / 2011

Kimbolton Fireworks had a very busy end to 2010 with the achievement of firing the two largest displays in the country on the same night. Kimbolton Fireworks were in Edinburgh for the fourth year to fire the largest Hogmanay display from the historic castle battlements, West Princes Street Gardens and from behind the National monument on Calton Hill. With the remains of the worst snow fall in recent years and in sub zero temperatures, a crew of 16 travelled north to deliver another stunning display for the World Famous Street Party organised by Unique Events. An audience of 80,000 people gathered on Princes Street to witness the spectacular 4 minute display where nearly three tonnes of fireworks were launched from the three sites simultaneously. With live coverage of the Event on BBC Scotland the display was heralded as the best yet.


In addition to Edinburgh's Hogmanay, Kimbolton Fireworks were asked by Jack Morton Worldwide and the Mayor for London, Boris Johnson to produce the annual spectacle at the London Eye and on the river Thames for the Mayor of London's New Year's Eve celebrations. This event now in its seventh year and for the first time the honour of firing this display was to go to a UK company. With a display of this size and prestige it was a tremendous challenge for Kimbolton Fireworks to rig such a complex display in such tight timescales. The display is centred around the London Eye and with nearly 1,500 fireworks fired from any one of 96 firing positions on the Eye, we had only five hours to rig the fireworks and pyrotechnics to the structure starting at 17:30 on New Years Eve itself.

A team of 34 pyrotechnicians worked tirelessly from Boxing Day through to New Years Day to deliver what is the largest and most complex display in the country, firing from three barges on the river, 6 pontoons and the London Eye itself including the hub or central spindle. The display was also synchronised to music for the first time with the soundtrack being provided by Radio 1 DJ Nihal. With 12 independent firing systems including backups which not only had to be synchronised with each other but also had to be co-ordinated with the music and to all start at midnight, we used GPS technology to synchronise and start the firing systems together. With the first chime of Big Ben, the barges erupted and the display commenced for the 250,000 people who lined the embankment and bridges of the Thames and for the 11 million people at home watching the live broadcast on BBC1. In the press the following day the display was critically acclaimed as the best display London had ever seen and the Daily Mail claimed it the best display the country had ever seen.