World’s longest running firework magazine is celebrated on 40th anniversary

As magazine founder John Bennett explains: “In 1982 I started a magazine called Fireworks. It is the only firework magazine in Europe now, others having started and fallen by the wayside. The others are American.

“There can’t be many magazines which have been published in Bexhill for 40 years! It is for firework enthusiasts but is also accepted as the trade’s magazine.”

Fireworks is available from the website: fireworks-mag.org by credit card, and by post from Fireworks, PO Box 40, Bexhill, TN40 1GX; £10 subscription (comprising two issues, May and November). Postage is added on website. There is also an electronic version available at a reduced cost.

John, aged 74, said: “There are a lot of people who remember their firework nights and the fireworks they used. To give them the pleasure of seeing those fireworks again in glorious colour (Fireworks is entirely in colour) was one of the purposes of the magazine.

“The overriding concern that led to the magazine seeing the light of day was that the British firework industry was dying, and British fireworks being replaced by cheap imports.

"So in 1982 it was important to compile histories of such as Brock’s, Pain’s, Standard (the only one still extant although not making fireworks themselves), Excelsior, Lion, Wessex, Wilder’s, Astra, Rainbow, Wizard, Wells, Benwell and many more.

“The research undertaken saw many other, less well known, companies emerge, including Comet, Jessop’s, Britannia, Phoenix, Guy’s and Mersey. Histories of all these companies were compiled and fascinating stories they were. Those early histories benefited from my meeting and recording the memories of those that ran them and worked for them, although many were very old. As the magazine grew, many others began to write histories of other companies of which even I had never heard. Some had died out long before we were born – like Crane’s of Bristol. Many histories began to be written by the writers who joined Fireworks’ ranks.

“While the history of fireworks and their makers, and, perhaps even more importantly, nostalgia remain the mainstay of the magazine, it grew like Topsy and now the subjects range from news, views, display guides, legislation – what you can and can’t do, competition news and those vexed questions like why a Catherine wheel spins, a jumping cracker jumps and what governs the size of rockets! There are also articles as to why fireworks should remain available to the public by those really know as opposed to those who oppose this who really don’t!”

John started Fireworks “because I love fireworks and have been surprised by the number of others who share the interest. As it grew in popularity, it formed a network of pyrotechnophiles who, between them, have made great strides in the setting up of museums, the preservation of firework dummies, labels, posters, adverts etc.

“Dummies were made for reps to take to retailers so that they would not have to carry live material. It is these that, to me, are the most exciting memorabilia because they are the fireworks that we remember – albeit without their original function! And it is from collections of them that many of the photographs in Fireworks come.

"As I have said, Fireworks is not entirely historical by any means now – and sumptuous display pictures can also be seen usually in articles about the event.”​​​​​​​