The display at Ramsgate harbour will take
place at midnight in the normal way weather permitting.
The display time at Broadstairs has been changed
to 10.30 pm and once again it will take place on weather permitting basis.
We had our really big explosion earlier
this year when Richborough Powerstation was demolished.
I could only find Mark Dempsey’s
explanation as to why the Broadstairs display has been changed on FaceBook here is the link http://www.facebook.com/mark.dempsey.775?group_id=0 and
have copied it below in case it won't open for readers.
As regards Broadstairs Fireworks this New
Years Eve and as the person charged with the great responsibility of not only
firing the Fireworks at Broadstairs As the Managing Director of Viking
fireworks Ltd but also submitting all of the paperwork neccessary to ensure
these events go ahead through my involvement with the Broadstairs Firework
Society, please may I make these comments which I hope you will all consider
and form your own opinions, and respond in kind on this blog in due course.
As far as I am concerned, all of your
comments whether positive or negative to what I am about to say will be
listened to and acted upon. The only stipulation I would place on this is that
if you feel you have to post a negative comment then please do so but then
please suggest a positive alternative course of action you feel we could have
taken to make this event a success.
OK then, here we go.
New Years Eve 2012 Broadstairs.
This is the current synopsis.
Usually a Midnight Display, we are
restricted to a Beach firing, low water on 31st December Btroadstairs around 19
20 hrs o.6metres, highwater around 1.20pm 5.5 metres, ( Dover Coastguard
advises), therefore we could be faced with the situation that at midnight at
Viking Bay on the day in question there will already be very little beach to
fire Fireworks from.
You have to understand the following to
make a reasoned assesment of the Firework Companys position here.
Safety distance between Fireworks and
Audience is of course paramount, and for every millimetre of tube calibre fired
by the Firework Company's product they have to allow 1 metre of safety distance
between them and the audience.
So a 30mm calibre Roman Candle would need
to be 30metres from the Audience and a 75 mm shell would need a 75 metre
distance from the crowds as well.
I hope this might go some way to explain
why Displays are sometimes cancelled when there are onshore winds .
Nobody can say with certainty what the
Beach situation will be at Viking
Bay at Midnight on 31st
December and so an alternative option was sought with TDC and this focused on
the Harbour pier area.
This area to the rear of the Harbour pier
Cafeteria has been used before as a launch platform for NYE Fireworks until a
few years ago.
The last time this area was used for
Broadstairs Fireworks on NYE the following situaton occured.
At approxiametly 20.30hrs the current
Cafeteria owner closed the premises and left the Harbour pier.
The firework company then erected it's
safety barriers,posted it's marshalls
only to find that at 22.30hrs the Cafeteria owner returned, demanded the
barriers were removed as she was going to reopen the business and wanted access
for her customers to her premises.
After some discussion the Firework Company
complied and then was faced with the situation of trying to remove some 300
hundred people out of thier designated safety
zone at 23.45hrs.
Whilst investigating the possibility of
returning to the pier as a launch site this December it was suggested to me
that I should contact the current Cafeteria owner ( the same person) and speak
with her as the last time we had fired on the pier it had cost her money and I
had been rude to her.
Not my recollection I am afraid, more that
the lady in question had objected to my insistence that she ceased trading for
the 15 minutes it took for the Display to be fired.
No mileage ,in my opinion then, in entering
into discussion as based on previous dealings no compromise would be possible
that would satisfy safety concerns possibly raised at TESAG and the Cafe owner
appeared to be in a "Compensation Scenario".
Why not a compromise then?
New years Eve ,after all is supposed to be
a Family celebration, Family may not want to be up at Midnight with small
Children and bearing in mind we are in the business of entertaining, bringing
in trade into the town for the benefit of the local traders and entertaining
local residents why not go at 22.30hrs instead of 24.01?
There are many benefits in this scenario if
you care to think about it.
Firstly local familys with young Children
and a few other people from further afield, we have taken two enquiries
today,(one from Dartford and another from Rochester) asking about the fireworks
at Broadstairs on NYE and who have responded positively to the suggestion of an
earlier firing time for the Fireworks Display so that they can arrive ealier in
the town , enjoy a meal at a restaurant, watch the Display and arrive home at a
decent hour.
Secondly, each Display fired at Broadstairs
requires a road closure to be put in place and this basically turns Albion
street into a pedestrian precint for an hour before the Display and an hour
after the Display with all the benefits of pedestrian safety this brings to the
town on what has become, shall we say, a highly social event in the towns
calendar.
Finally an earlier event takes the pressure
off of the Blue light services around the Midnight hour and also has less
Social impact as regards noise and disturbance to the local poulace.
Now, here's the rub.
As regards the funding of this Display, if
we go with the 22.30 scenario.
BTC originally set aside funding for this
event on the understanding that it would take place at Midnight on the 31st
December.
I have been advised that if the display
takes place at 22.30hrs then that funding will be withdrawn as the original
agreement was for a display at Midnight.
Fair do's then. No Money from them, no say
then on what time the fireworks are fired.
Fiona has done a stalwart job in raising
funds towards the Display for NYE but is also of the opinion ,as far as I can
see from this blog, that it is either 24.00 or not at all.
Fair do's then.
Question is the Fiona what are you going to
do with the money you have raised, or is it more the case that you have had
money pledged?
Bit of a difference there.
Suggestion has been made on this blog that
you give the money to a charity.
Money was raised for fireworks at
Broadstairs.........yes?
OK then...Broadstairs Firework Society is a
CIC company Limited by guarantee but with a Charity status.
Why then don't you give the money you have
raised for fireworks at Broadstairs to the Firework Society towards next years
NYE Firework event?
TDC have offered and guaranteed a grant
towards the fireworks for NYE at Broadstairs on the understanding that they are
fired at 22.30 due to safety concerns on the likely state of the beach at 24.00
and this has been approved by the TESAG committee.
So some money there but not enough.
OK then Broadstairs.
Suppose then that rather than have no
fireworks at Broadstairs on the 31st December for the 2nd year in a row, the
Firework Company in conjunction with the Firework Society undertakes to fire
the display gratis as a one off gift to Broadstairs on the understanding the
Display is at 22.30hrs local time?
Takes two days to build a Broadstairs
display.
Just a few further thoughts about the
problems associated with publishing this information on FaceBook, the bottom
line being that the only people who can see it are those who are FaceBook
members and are signed on, I can tell this because I can’t view it if I am not
signed on to FaceBook.
And having linked to it because I can see
it myself as I have a FaceBook account and am logged on whether other people
who have FaceBook accounts and are logged on would be able to see it is something
I just don’t know and would depend on the settings the thing was published on
and who the viewer is FaceBook friends with.
Oh yes and here is the moon taken from Ramsgate yesterday evening, on the way to watching Life of Pi at the Granville.
A well reasoned argument. It's not that easy when hedged in by rules, regulations, other interested parties and the tide. I always enjoy fireworks at any time. Good luck to Mark.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Mark. Yet another shambolic fireworks/NYE events as in previous years. It happens every year. Other towns manage it.
ReplyDeleteSorry about that Peter, I copied and pasted it from FaceBook with my mobile phone, and it added all sorts of strange encoding the most bizarre of which was a video that you couldn’t view that only showed up on older versions of internet explorer.
ReplyDeleteOne is inclined to forget that the font size you see is just encoding, which will look different in different browsers. I hope it appears OK now I have changed it.
looks ok. to me as for te fireworks another storm in aa teacup.. seems like some joined up thinking is needed if the tide is in and there is not enough beach then a compramise is needed. Or a boat to launch from?
ReplyDeletePeter,
ReplyDeleteYou should have gone to Specsavers. (sorry0
was it a year ago the fireworks was going to be cancelled for lack of a permit or something? Ramsgate keeps getting delayed too. The Xmas decorations are rubbish again: leaving them up all year? Other towns put on special displays - so diid ramasgate once. Any Xmas lights/floral displays pictures Michael? A special book? You can have my half of the profits!
ReplyDeleteClick on the link 6.53 http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/a-few-pictures-of-ramsgate-christmas.html not related to 0% by any chance are you?
DeleteIt’s just that everyone else in Ramsgate seems to have noticed the new and greatly improved Christmas decorations, that we paid for out of our extra council tax contribution, which we voted to make to fund exactly this type of thing through our town council.
Oh no - Broadstairs looks foolish again! I can just see the headlines "New Year comes early in Broadstairs". I understand Viking fireworks are trying their best to come up with a compromise, but I feel it would be better to say, we are unable to have Fireworks this year due to tidal conditions. It would be nice to to think the pier could be used as a launch site but I know there are problems with that. I do get the feeling all this was left far to late, we know the tides months ahead. At the end of the day the high winds may cause a cancellation anyway, no matter what the time....any other display during the year would it be fine to move times but - NEW YEARS FIREWORKS SEE IN THE NEW YEAR AT 12.00.
ReplyDeleteWell the Broadstairs fireworks went off spectacularly and the early start actually fitted in well with other celebrations as it turned out. Far from looking foolish, Broadstairs did rather well with all its hostelries and restaurants doing excellent trade and people enjoying themselves. I watched the display and was back home again in good time to see the New Year in with family and friends over a glass or two of bubbly.
DeleteIt is easy to knock, Roy, but some people actually put in a lot of effort, often battling against modern health and safety rules as well as the elements, to bring off these events. Bet most people who attended would have preferred the fireworks as displayed at 22.30 rather than no fireworks at all.
Why is there so much schadenfreude around these days, especially at times like this. I'm delighted that the fireworks went well for Broadstairs.
DeleteIt's political, John. Broadstairs has a problem with a small beach and on shore winds so that conditions have to be just right for the fireworks to go ahead safely. Last New Year's eve they were cancelled over some alleged irregularity with the application and linked to the new Labour administration at TDC, who also cancelled the long planned Broadstairs community centre, it was all seen as a bit of Labour slapping for the Broadstairs Tories.
DeleteMichael, of course, defended the Labour TDC and others, like me, jumped on the opportunity, even if it was a bit tongue in cheek, to blame it all on the change of administration. It's what passes for debate here on the isle.
In truth, politicians of all shades invariably cock things up and are collectively to blame for the unrecognisable state of our once beautiful nation. I fear worse is still to come so, when something does happen to cheer, like the Broadstairs fireworks, why not just enjoy that moment. On the bigger picture we enter 2013 with an ongoing choice between Cameron, Clegg and Milliband nationally (shudders involuntarily) with a possibly even stranger assortment here on the planet.
My impression of Thanet is the we have too much politics and not enough government.
DeleteConcerning your final paragraph: for several years now Nigel Farage has been saying the things that I want to hear. He is eloquent, blessed with common sense and able to go to the heart of the problem. Instead of prancing around the edge as so many politicians seem to do these days. I am still undecided what to do about this. I would not want to lose Laura Sandys. Laura is the epitome of a good constituency MP. I will give UKIP a go at the next local elections. My local Councillors do not seem to do very much, as far as I can tell. They could learn a lot from Laura Sandys' example.
Agree about Laura Sandys, John, being an excellent constituency MP, but she, along with many other Conservative MPs, must take her share of the blame for not standing up to Cameron in his attempts to abandon traditional Conservative values by moving the party onto the ground vacated by Blair. What makes these arrogant politicians like Cameron, devoid of real world experience, think they know best what the British people want.
DeletePoll after poll demonstrates that we Brits are right of centre traditionalists who support law and order, control of our borders, favour tougher punishments for crime, have sometghing of an abhorence of PC extremism and would prefer in the main to trade with, but not be part of, a federal Europe.
Yes, Nigel Farage, does speak what many of us want to hear, but UKIP does not have the following, or quality of candidates, to do more than hand Labour victory by taking normal Tory votes. I fear we have to suffer more of the Labour punishment before we collectively wake up to the need to choose the right leaders, those of honest conviction, rather than vacuous smoothies like Blair and Cameron.
So following your logic then Tom, we sacrifice the excellent Laura for another Ladyman at the next General Election, just to teach CCO a lesson?
DeleteTim as a floating voter, I can see this election being a bit of a problem, although up to a point it does depend on your own MP, you are also making a selection at national level.
DeletePersonally I find it very hard to identify with either Cameron or Miliband, I guess it very much depends on who which party puts up in Thanet South, I would say there is a fair chance it will be a strongly contested marginal at this election.
I also think a lot of it will depend on how our situation is with Europe in, what is it? About two years time.
I guess what I would like is to be voting for something rather than against something at any level of government.
Tim, no I do not agree we should sacrifice Laura, but I remain very afraid that she, along with many other good MPs, will suffer the backlash brought about by Cameron's abandonment of the faithful. Not my choosing, but a realistic prospect. Gale will probably do better, if he stands again, because he is seen as a real Tory, not a Cameron lap dog.
DeleteHAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL WHO POST HERE.
ReplyDeleteYou're all living in cuckoo land. Ed Milliband will sweep to victory. Every Liberal-Democrat will lose their deposit and the Tories will lose half of their seats. It's one thing carrying out your mainfesto but neither of the parties in this government had a mandate for the things they have done. They should have agreed a coalition deal and then put themselves back up for re-election on that basis.
ReplyDeleteWho is living in cuckoo land, 3:35. Of course Milliband (or Labour to be more precise) will sweep to victory and then will once again stuff up the economy big time. The nanny state will be back in all its splendour and those in sundry minority groups will think their ship has come in. The rest of us will have to live with the consequences.
DeleteBut, hey, why get depressed because whoever wins they will stuff it up, for most of them have no clue what the real world outside of Westminster is like.
Well now that I have the benefit of you counsel I advocate that we dispense with fuss of an election and appoint a government at your will.
ReplyDeleteanonymous 3:35PM,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting point of view - do you have any evidence to support your strident prophecy?