Why We Believe Our Fireworks Display Is Right
We know that fireworks can be a difficult time of year for some people and, particularly, for pets and other animals. We don't pretend otherwise.
In fact, we understand it personally.
Our dog, Chief, is a 55kg Bernese Mountain Dog and he is absolutely petrified of fireworks. When he shakes with fear, you can actually feel it through the floorboards. So, for any pet owners who dread fireworks season and spend the evening trying to comfort a frightened animal, we genuinely understand how difficult it can be. We're pet owners ourselves, not pet experts, but we know what it is like to see your dog frightened by fireworks.
Chief will be spending the night of 6 November at his Grandma's in the country, where he can escape the worst of the noise. We appreciate, however, that not everyone has that option available to them.
Why do we run an organised display?
It's something we've thought about carefully.
During COVID, when organised fireworks displays weren't able to take place, we saw just how many fireworks were being let off in gardens and on streets. Rather than having one organised display at a known location and time, fireworks were going off across the community, at different times, often with little warning.
For people and animals affected by fireworks, we believe that can actually create a much more difficult situation.
Our view is that one large, professionally organised display, on one clearly advertised night, at a specific time and location, is a better way of managing fireworks in our community than having fireworks being set off unpredictably across many different gardens over a number of nights.
We know this doesn't eliminate the problem. Chief certainly isn't going to suddenly enjoy fireworks because we organise a display!
But it does mean that people can know when the main event is happening. Those who need to can make arrangements, leave the area, take their pets somewhere quieter, close windows and curtains, or otherwise prepare for the noise.
For us, it's about reducing the constant, attritional nature of fireworks — the uncertainty of not knowing when the next bang is going to happen, or whether tonight will be another night of fireworks.
Why do we run an organised display?
It's something we've thought about carefully.
During COVID, when organised fireworks displays weren't able to take place, we saw just how many fireworks were being let off in gardens and on streets. Rather than having one organised display at a known location and time, fireworks were going off across the community, at different times, often with little warning.
For people and animals affected by fireworks, we believe that can actually create a much more difficult situation.
Our view is that one large, professionally organised display, on one clearly advertised night, at a specific time and location, is a better way of managing fireworks in our community than having fireworks being set off unpredictably across many different gardens over a number of nights.
We know this doesn't eliminate the problem. Chief certainly isn't going to suddenly enjoy fireworks because we organise a display!
But it does mean that people can know when the main event is happening. Those who need to can make arrangements, leave the area, take their pets somewhere quieter, close windows and curtains, or otherwise prepare for the noise.
For us, it's about reducing the constant, attritional nature of fireworks — the uncertainty of not knowing when the next bang is going to happen, or whether tonight will be another night of fireworks.
We also have a responsibility to the charities we support
Downend Round Table Fireworks isn't run by a large commercial organisation.
We are a group of 18 ordinary guys, volunteering a huge amount of our own time to put this event together.
We do it because the event raises a significant amount of money for local good causes. In recent years, we have been able to contribute more than £60,000 to local charities and community organisations organisations that genuinely rely on fundraising like this.
If we stopped running the event, that funding would stop too.
That is something we take very seriously.
We also have to make the event financially viable. The cost of putting on the display and running the event is now approaching £100,000. This isn't a small operation, and the money raised doesn't simply appear as profit it pays for the substantial costs involved in delivering a safe, professional public event, with the surplus going back into the community.
We have looked at alternatives, including silent fireworks and drone shows.
Unfortunately, experience from other Round Table events suggests that moving to silent fireworks can result in a significant reduction in ticket demand. At the level of demand we would expect, the event could become financially unviable — meaning we would potentially lose both the fireworks display and the £60,000+ of charitable fundraising that comes with it.
Drone shows are another interesting alternative, but the costs involved would be dramatically higher. Based on the costs we have looked at, a drone-based event could potentially mean ticket prices around three times higher than they are today.
We don't believe that is a realistic or accessible solution for our community.
We don't think there is a perfect solution
We want to be clear: we don't think our fireworks display solves the problems that fireworks can cause.
We know there are people who dislike fireworks. We know there are pets who are frightened by them. We know that some people find the noise genuinely distressing.
But we believe there is a difference between pretending those concerns don't exist and trying to find the most responsible way of holding an event that also raises tens of thousands of pounds for local good causes.
For us, one organised display, on one known date, at one known location and at a clearly advertised time, is the best balance we can currently find.
It gives the community an opportunity to come together, enjoy a professional display and raise significant money for local charities — while also allowing those who would rather avoid the noise to know exactly when they need to make alternative arrangements.
And on the night itself, we'll be thinking of the animals too.
I'll certainly be thinking about Chief.
He'll be safely away in the countryside with his Grandma, and I hope he'll have a much calmer evening.
We know not everyone can do that. That's why we will continue to think carefully about how we run the event and what we can do to minimise its impact.
We are 18 volunteers giving our time to put on one night of fireworks that helps fund our local community for the rest of the year. We believe that is worth protecting — and we believe doing it in an organised, predictable and responsible way is the right thing to do.