HEAVY rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of all those who attended the Saffron Walden Round Table s annual fireworks display on Saturday. The free event, held on the Common, went ahead despite the weather and the sky was lit up with more flashes and

HEAVY rain did nothing to dampen the spirits of all those who attended the Saffron Walden Round Table's annual fireworks display on Saturday.

The free event, held on the Common, went ahead despite the weather and the sky was lit up with more flashes and sparkles than ever before.

Round Table chairman Nick Head thanked everyone who attended the event, but said the night had made a loss of about £750 due to the weather conditions.

"It will come down to each member of Saffron Walden Round Table to personally contribute to make up for the loss," said Mr Head.

If you saw the display but did not have a chance to donate on the night but still wish to do so, please send a cheque made payable to "SWRT" to Saffron Walden Round Table, c/o 3 The Boys British, East Street, Saffron Walden, Essex.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to provide some facts regarding an incident on Saturday night and hopefully this will answer any concerns the public may have," said Mr Head.

"A firework did unfortunately land outside the firing zone and amongst the crowd. This happened as a result of a faulty firework knocking over a smaller firework and causing it to miss-fire. Thankfully there were no injuries although I was informed that one family had been shaken up and despite my best attempts, I was unable to locate the family either at the event or at the police station where I was informed they were.

"The incident has been fully investigated by Essex Police and The Health & Safety Executive (HSE). The event management was fully reviewed and some of my members were with the police until 1.30am going through our risk assessments and documentation surrounding the event.

"Safety has always been a paramount concern with every event we organise for the town - most of us have young families who were at the display so this is not something we would ever take lightly.