My girlfriend was at home looking out of her window when she could see 2, and then 3 blinking red lights that were stationary. At first she was unsure if they might be stars and phoned me to clarify what was visible in the night sky in that position. In her desire to rationalise the sighting, she had overlooked that NO stars were visible with any real luminosity at this moment as it was not entirely dark and light pollution was also interfering. Whatever she was seeing were not stars.She then explained (on the phone as I raced over in the car - a distance of 15 miles) that she could see what she could only describe as something resembling fireworks (sparkler type effect) just slightly visible under at least one of the objects (2 at first).The third object came in from the West, at speed (something slightly faster than an aircraft), and then just stopped in an instant and was stationery over the other 2 lights. They hovered there for another 20 mins and 'blinked out' in an instant a few moments before I arrived.AFter waiting some time for them to return, I then made the drive back but this time over the tops and avoiding the light polluted motorway. After some minutes of being convinced I was too late, a very bright white object appeared from the west travelling at speed (perhaps twice the speed of normal high aircraft), but this was 2 or 3 times brighter than any aircraft OF WIHICH THERE WERE AT LEAST 3 OTHERS in the sky at the same time as its a busy flight path in/out of Manchester. The object did not blink, but was a constant luminosity and in a straight vector. I am familiar with the size/looks of satellites which I have tracked often - this was nothing of the sort. Its brightness was not only constant, but was very bright despite its obvious height, which I would estimate at low aircraft height at the very least, and perhaps much higher. Half way across the sky we lost sight of it as it faded out (due to distance perhaps, and maybe giving some indication that it was higher than we first thought)This final object was at a guess 3 times brighter than anything else in the sky and I could make direct and immediate comparisons to conventional planes as they were flying not far from it in the sky! The whole event was highly unusual and although I didn't witness the first 3 objects, the testimony of my girlfriend is utterly dependable, she was in fact quite shaken by it.