Judge praises first round of firework competition

The final three competitors are set to perform 10-minute displays on Thursday night

A judge for the British Fireworks Championships has said the first night of the event showed a "really high standard".

Robert Alge is one of three judges choosing the winner of this year's "champion of champions" event. They are choosing the best of six 10-minute displays over Plymouth Sound, each a winner from the previous six years.

On Wednesday, Sonic Fireworks from Devon, Bristol-based Skyburst The Firework Co, and BBB Fireworks from East Sussex launched their displays from Mountbatten Breakwater.

Part two of the two-night event later will see Selstar Fireworks from West Sussex, Fully Fused Fireworks from Bedfordshire,and Nottingham-based 1st Galaxy Firework Displays deliver their displays.

The three judges looked for the quality of both the display design and the show itself

Mr Alge said the three judges had spent Wednesday afternoon reviewing the competitors' set-ups and making sure the right guidelines and processes had been put in place.

Once the displays began during the evening, he said they had looked for a number of factors that informed their decisions.

One was the quality of the show performance, which meant watching for mistakes such as stray or wrongly coloured fireworks, he said.

Mr Alge said Plymouth Sound was "the perfect theatrical space" for the event

Another important consideration, he said, was "the beauty and the quality of the design of the show, the right rhythm and pace, the sequence of patterns in the sky".

"Are they overlapping each other or maybe fighting each other or are they having time to breathe so you get a visual connection with them?" Mr Alge added.

The final factor was the colour variations, the judge said, including the transitions of colour, their patterns and pace.

"Sometimes competitors like to do a whole sequence in the one colour, sometimes they mix and match, but does it work when you go through these colour variations?"

Mr Alge said Plymouth Sound was "the perfect theatrical space, a natural amphitheatre", for the event.

"We've got this wonderful backdrop of the smoke and the fireworks going off, reflection and boats on the water, everything adds up and says 'natural theatre'," he said.

"Tens of thousands of people come to Plymouth every year because everyone loves the spectacle of fireworks, it draws people together," he added.