Wirral News meets the man behind Birkenhead School’s Perfect Pitch firework finale

May 4 2011 Bromborough and Bebington News

“BEFORE I can even remember – my mum will tell you – I was turning her hair grey with my fascination with fire and fireworks,” asserts Richard Babington, the pyrotechnician behind the firework finale for Birkenhead School’s June Perfect Pitch concert.

The Staffordshire-born 24-year-old spent three years in Liverpool while studying his craft at Lipa and is now based in the North West.

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that some of the projects he’s been involved with are high-profile Liverpool events such as the River Mersey firework displays marking the opening and the close of the Capital of Culture.

Richard does more than merely programme displays as part of shows that run into hundreds of thousands of pounds, he is also a theatrical special effects expert, and both of those talents look set to be on display at the Birkenhead School concert on June 18.

Weeks of careful planning and collaboration will go into the final display and Richard is currently contemplating the addition of a pair of stage-mounted “cannon” for extra wow factor special effects during the school's 150th anniversary grand firework finale to The Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture.

These aren’t cannon “props”, just a very convincing sound effect right next to the orchestra.

Given he was part of the team that worked to deliver the biggest special effects sequence in British soap opera history – the tram crash in Coronation Street – the odds are that any cannon effect he devises will be worth a look.

Hundreds of fireworks will be used, set off to a sequenced computer programme designed in collaboration with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra which will provide music.

“There are hundreds if not thousands of different types and effects available and when designing the display, it’s important to ensure the choice of fireworks matches the music, and they interact to create the wow factor.”

Richard has worked on London’s biggest bonfire celebrations at Tower Hamlets and the pyrotechnics for Take That’s TV show Take That Come To Town.

For the Birkenhead School concert, in association with Wirral News, he’s working with a team at events company Walk the Plank, appointed by the school to bring the fireworks element together.

Tickets for Birkenhead School’s Perfect Pitch, in association with Wirral News are on sale online at www.birkenheadschool.co.uk, by post using a booking form available on the school website, or by phone on 0151 652 4014. Ticket or other enquiries can also be sent to mary.butterworth@birkenheadschool.co.uk