Fireworks display postponed over costs and safety

Chellaston Leisure Limited decided not to run a fireworks show this year because of increased popularity and costs

A free silent fireworks display will not return to a park in Derby because large crowds and safety costs made the location "unviable".

The event at Chellaston Park was expected to attract between 200 and 300 people on 3 November 2024 - but drew an unexpected crowd of 3,000.

Organisers, Chellaston Leisure Limited (CLL), a not-for-profit organisation, decided not to return to the park in November this year despite trying to find a solution to accommodate the large crowds.

Director of CLL, Simon Fisher, said they were now looking at other nearby locations to facilitate the numbers in 2026.

Organisers said it would have cost "tens of thousands of pounds" to put the event on this year with increased security and safety measures

CLL's statement said last year's event was an incredible success but, unfortunately, too successful to make the event viable to be repeated in the park.

"We have explored all options possible and gone through the legislation with professional event organisers and unfortunately the costs and measures needed to make an event attended by that many people safe for approval are just not viable," CLL added.

"Safety has to come first, and fireworks and darkness are both dangerous for mass gatherings so need tight measures in place."

More than 3,000 people turned up to the fireworks event last year

Mr Fisher, 45, said he was unsure how many people would turn up last year, as it was the first time the park had hosted a fireworks show.

"We decided we wanted to do something for the community, as Chellaston Leisure is a not-for-profit community venture," he added.

"We discussed it between us and the councillors and we went down the low-noise route on purpose to make sure it was fully inclusive and as many people from the community could benefit from it."

Funding was provided for the 2024 event from Derby City Council's Neighbourhood Board budget, which provides each ward in the city with £15,000 annually to support local projects.

"Our prediction at the time was probably somewhere between 200 to 300 people, but around 3,000 turned up. The buzz was fantastic," Mr Fisher added.

Chellaston Park is commonly used for local sporting club matches

Mr Fisher sat down with Derby City Council's events team, Derby Live, to discuss options for ensuring the event could go ahead this year with a large crowd.

"We went through every option we could to still make this work. One of them was to do a ticketed event," said Mr Fisher.

"We never wanted it to be an event that you're charged and ticketed for because we wanted to be open to everybody."

Independent councillor for Chellaston and Shelton Lock, Philip Ingall, said it was a "massive shame" the event was not going ahead this year.

"Unfortunately it was a victim of its own success," said Ingall, who also helped organise the event in 2024.