The Queen’s College Oxford, was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield, a chaplain in the household of Queen Philippa, who named it in her honour. This year the College celebrates its 675th anniversary, this momentous occasion was marked with what was undeniably the Commemoration Ball of the year, with the theme, A Night on The Orient Express. The gardens and quads were transformed into various scenes starting with London and a wide range of cosmopolitan cuisine, then on to a vivacious Venetian night scene where the guests could dance the night away, of course one of the highlights to this commemorative ball was a stunning firework display delivered from the roof of the front Quad fired by Titanium Fireworks.
Parts of the current College date back to the 17th century and replace the earlier medieval College buildings that had fallen into disrepair in the 16th century. The College is one of the oldest constituent Colleges of the University of Oxford and great care was required to avoid any damage to the historic building. We used our specialist low debris stadium and arena pyrotechnics to deliver a 4 minute display fired from 11 positions along the roof over the main quad.
The pyrotechnics and equipment had to be hand lifted to the fourth floor roof of the main building and rigged along the ramparts with care being taken not to effect any part of the building fabric. Synchronised to a soundtrack in keeping with the theme of The Orient Express, we fired a choreographed display for the many guests below.
With notable alumni including Rowan Atkinson, Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Henry V of England, expectation for the 675th Anniversary was high and what better way to mark a memorable evening to celebrate such an important milestone than with a spectacular pyromusical fired by Titanium Fireworks. The feedback from the client was very gratifying;
You did an amazing job and I was over-the-moon at how well everything went. Everyone has given really lovely comments to the same effect.