business
Offshore wind farms, greenhouses producing
year round vegetables and the China Gateway
project have recently brought attention to
Thanet's potential as a location for new
companies. But the area is already a hub of
manufacturing activity, large and small.
Here, Kiki Case looks at five manufacturers
already operating on the Isle of Thanet.
O
nce known as "the workshop of the
world", and leaders in design and
creation, recent decades have witnessed
a slow decline in Britain's manufacturing
industry, the industry that has, over the past
300 years, built Britain into a prosperous
trading nation. Whilst our focus has shifted
towards the finance and service sectors, the
country remains the sixth largest manufacturing
base in the world. The manufacturing industry
currently accounts for 13 percent of Britain's
GDP and half of its exports.
Around three million people rely on
manufacturing for their livelihood and thankfully
there are still plenty of creative brains in all
corners of the country designing and making.
The list of manufacturers based in Thanet
goes into the hundreds, with a diverse product
range: clothing and bread, electronic
components and surveillance and optical
equipment, sail makers and boat builders, neon
signs and guitars, furniture and amusement
arcade games, precision steel metalworks and
pyrotechnics, to name but a few.
Thanet's proximity and good transport links
to mainland Europe, and its fast link by rail and
road to London are advantages to companies
seeking to locate here, as are its excellent physical
environment and climate. Coupled with the
facilities of an international airport, an active
seaport, several local companies providing trailer
or containerised road haulage and distribution
services, and available land for development, there
is much here to attract inward investment.
S
ituated out in the fields near Manston
airport are a group of unprepossessing
wooden sheds, carefully set equidistant
from each other, 25 yards to be precise, and
each with a sign warning of the risk of
explosion. This is the home of the country's
first pyrotechnic manufacturer, Theatrical
Pyrotechnics Ltd, established in 1976 by
industrial chemist, Malcolm Armstrong.
Pyrotechnics, he explains, are the
components that make the sounds (fizzles,
cracks and pops), the smoke, the flashes and
the colours in, for example, fireworks. A large
part of his current business is creating
pyrotechnics for commercial usage. The factory
produces 240,000 smoke emitters, which may
be used, for example, for leak testing chimneys
or for testing smoke alarms. The company also
produces the components for descaling
commercial boilers.
However, over the last few decades, he has
been responsible for creating the special effects
on all of the Bond films. If an aeroplane or car
is to be blown up, or an object needs to hit the
ceiling, then he will design the pyrotechnics to
make that possible. Previously, such effects had
been created on site by people within the TV
and film industries. However, when the health
and safety rules for pyrotechnics and fireworks
began to change in the 1980s, Malcom saw an
opportunity to bring together a dedicated
factory, complete with licensing and adherence
to safety regulations, to supply to the film
industry � the first of its kind.
Employing 10 people, the company also
creates dazzling effects for fireworks displays.
Locally, these can be seen at Quex. Although
fireworks are no longer made in this country,
Theatrical Pyrotechnics opens its doors every
year, two weeks before November 5th, and sells
what Malcolm calls the `Rolls Royce of
fireworks', made in China. Box sets and
displays of these stunning fireworks cost
anything from �20 to �3,000.
Theatrical Pyrotechnics Ltd, The Loop,
Manston Airport, Ramsgate, Kent CT12 5DE
Tel: 01843 823545
www.tplpyro.co.uk
Theatrical Pyrotechnics Ltd
Made in Thanet
Simon and Sandy Northrop at their sail loft in Ramsgate
Picture: Jo Scott
Explosive materials are handled with
great care at Theatrical Pyrotechnics Ltd
Picture: David Case
60 Isle Magazine
Made in Thanet

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