TONIGHT, when readers see the night sky filled with rockets and other colourful fireworks, take a moment to reflect on how these fountains of colour are manufactured and what actually produces their visual effects.

Take a visit to Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum in The Close, where you will discover a fascinating interactive fireworks exhibition.

The exhibition is a perfect opportunity to discover some of the archives of Pain’s Fireworks, now based in Whiteparish. James Pain started the company in the middle of the 19th century, although it is believed that his ancestor Henry Pain supplied Guy Fawkes with the explosives used in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. And the failure of the plot is of course, celebrated in gardens and parks all over the country tonight.

In the exhibition you can also see some of Pain’s distress flares and rescue equipment in this carefully put together history and manufacture of fireworks.

The exhibition runs until Wednesday, January 6.