Llandudno’s fireworks display hits another snag

Sep 23 2010 by Judith Phillips, North Wales Weekly News

AFTER last year’s November 5 fireworks display in Llandudno turned out to be a damp squib, this year’s event has also hit a snag.

The spectacular event is usually staged on the resort’s pier, but last year high winds and rain meant it had to be cancelled at the last minute.

And an attempt to reschedule it to coincide with the town’s Christmas parade also failed due to bad weather.

This year, Guy Fawkes night falls on a Friday, and the town council had hoped to have a contingency plan that it could be held on the Saturday or Sunday if a storm stops it taking place once more.

But the pier’s owners have indicated they won’t be willing to allow its use on the Saturday evening.

“The pier company has said they would rather not let us use the pier on the Saturday or Sunday nights as those are busy days for them and it would adversely affect their business,” said Cllr Gary Burchett.

“We are hoping they will reconsider, but we’re also contacting the harbourmaster to see if we can hold the display at the West Shore if the pier isn’t available.”

And Cllr Brian Bertola said he hoped the pier owners would have a change of mind,.

“I know they have concerns because part of the pier has to be closed off while the display is set up, and they feel they would lose money because of this,” he explained.

“But the display from the pier is such a spectacular event and brings thousands of people to the town, it would be a pity if we had to hold it elsewhere.

“We can only hope for good weather on the Friday.”

But one bit of good news is that the £11,000 worth of fireworks from last year’s display can be used again as only the fuses were affected by last year’s heavy rain.

“The council will only have to meet the set up costs,” said town clerk Tessa Wildermoth.

And she said a decision as to whether or not the display would go ahead on November 5 would be taken on the Thursday to avoid a repeat of last year when thousands of people turned up only to find it had been cancelled.