Bonfire and fireworks — Release of the past year

The lanterns have all been passed over, the dancers disperse, and the first flame touches the bottom of the beach effigy. A low roar from the crowd rises as the flames leap high and fireworks buried deep inside start to erupt. The bonfire incorporates musical collaborations with Jamie Sturrock and Guy Carter in an evocative crescendo to the event, with ever spectacular fireworks by BrightFire.

The Pyrotechnic Pendulum

Pendulums are fascinating in so many ways. Their history, their shape and the physics they embody all inspiring my lantern design in different ways. After much debate I chose an ornate Grandfather Clock Pendulum as a start point. The large round bob at the bottom gave me an uncluttered area for the bonfire element and the arm above an area for showing the exploding fireworks shooting up into the sky. Representing the release of the past year, the clear space between is occupied by 50 floating embers emerging in sinuous shapes from the bonfire of burning lanterns. My idea is that each ember equals 1000 lives remembered from this past year. The embers are igniting the rockets touch papers to send them on their celestial journey. To create symmetry in the design I envisaged looking inland towards the Burning the Clocks Event from a point out at sea, the Victorian cast iron promenade in the background and its symmetrical reflection placing it exactly where it should be. The pendulums gentle swing, a reminder of time forever passing.

Patrick became part of  the Same Sky team in 1999.