Welcome back to part 2 of our hot air ballooning journey so far. Learn about how we’ve come to look after each special shape one by one, helping to bring the magic back to UK ballooning. How my childhood dream as a 10 year old is now reality in 2023…
To read Part 1, click here.
Joycam Lips
So, where did we finish Part 1? Ah yes, it’s early 2021. Me and friend Tom had always said about buying a special shape balloon of our own but they’re so rare to come by, would it ever seriously happen? It was January and we were in lockdown when I had a call from a friend about a balloon that was potentially going up for sale. It was one of the last Flying Pictures shapes, G-LIPS, built by Cameron Balloons in 2000 to advertise a new polaroid camera and known as ‘Hot Lips’. A quirky, rare shape… I was interested.
I had seen it at Midlands twice and to be honest never paid much attention. I replied that we were interested in finding out more from owner Tony Brown and soon after made a low offer. Repair and inspection man for Easy Balloons, and general UK ballooning legend, Chris Dunkley was then asked to value it based on condition, hours and remaining flying life. The figure that was returned to us was a bit higher than we’d hoped but still fair. I wanted this kept very secretive not to spoil the surprise and we agreed the private sale of G-LIPS on 1st February. I immediately decided ‘Hot Lips’ would be a thing of the past, we’d call it G-LIPS or Joycam Lips.
After waiting 4 months for the Covid situation to improve, Tom and I hired a small rental van for the day and off we went to Guildford to pick up something I had been dreaming about for years; my first special shape. We met Tony, had a chat and a cuppa before rolling (with great difficulty) the balloon from its trailer into our van. Boy was it a big bag! He told us about the 12 Velcro slots, 3 in each lip, that we had to ensure were sealed prior to inflation and then to open some on landing. We’ve got it, job done. We shook hands, wished each other well and headed back to Bristol.
In a little bit of a rush because we’d not allowed quite enough time for the hire van, we pulled up outside the garage and Tom rolled it onto the pavement singlehandedly, saying “see you when I’m back in an hour”. It was impossible to move all 218kg on my own so sat in the garden flicking through the logbook and folder whilst waiting for extra hands. Switzerland, Spain, Italy, and Chile were just some of the countries listed. It dawned on me that at this moment we had no way of transporting and tethering without lots of help from balloonists, which stupidly I hadn’t really considered. The balloon was bought with a new, valid certificate of airworthiness (C of A) but we didn’t even consider flying would be possible, we would concentrate on a few static displays over the summer. Over the next few days, I sorted ownership paperwork to send to the CAA, which I needed a bit of guidance with at first, but soon became straightforward.
On 31st May 2021 the time came for me to post a teaser with the iconic Cameron special tag to get people guessing. All sorts of guesses for which balloon it could be soon came flooding in - Jaguar, Bradford and Bingley, Sonic, BBC Globe. Wrong, wrong! I was loving it. After a few hours I was receiving event invitations, it was all a bit surreal.
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Two weeks later on 16th June we headed to Ashton Court and with a great amount of help from friends Craig and Mandy, managed to successfully tether and reveal G-LIPS. The secret was out!
Choc Dips
Wind back 48 hours before the lips reveal. All my focus was on revealing lips to the world in 2 days’ time. This morning I went downstairs to start work at 9am and a notification from Balloons4Sale popped up on my phone screen from Twitter, something along the lines of ‘special shape for sale’. I had a look, thinking it would be a newer shape for some ridiculous price. I was wrong. It was the balloon I watched fly from the Bristol Balloon Fiesta as a 12 year old and loved, the Choc Dips tub. No longer airworthy, it was listed for sale along with Colt 17A hopper G-DIPZ. Should I?
For the next hour I had a real, long, hard think about it. But I had to hurry up, what if someone got there first? What if I’ve waited too long and it’s already gone? I typed out a message to owner Chris Dobson who I’d already had contact with back in 2019. An hour went by and no reply. Eventually, as I had almost given up hope walking back from getting lunch my phone buzzed. I instantly stopped to read the message, it was from Chris, and he was giving me first refusal as I was first to message, although supposedly had lots of interest. I agreed a deal there and then. Lips was great but this one really meant a lot to me with those memories from over 10 years ago.
Balloons were flying that night from Bristol and as usual I arrived to watch with some friends who thought I was mad but were equally as excited to see Choc Dips back in its home city. Bradley Lewis, a friend and pilot from Oxford, heard about the deal and very kindly offered to bring both envelopes down for me, which was a big help. He told me what I was doing was brilliant and he’d be up for helping tether any time.
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10 days after our first balloon reveal came the second, again at Ashton Court although this time the surface winds speeds were due to be a bit faster. It all went perfectly, and I did my first hot inflation. Choc Dips or Ohoo Dips as it’s rebranded to has a standard parachute and one small Velcro which doesn’t ever need opening on the ‘lift here’ tab. It’s a nice, easy shape but now very delicate on the baffles. All special shapes have white fabric inside called baffling to ensure the balloon holds its shape and is structurally sound.
A few weeks on during a 30°C July heatwave, on one Sunday afternoon I wanted to get all 3 of my balloons lined up beside each other and invite people to come and watch. Thanks to pilots Bradley, Steve and Mike, we pulled it off. It was a big achievement for me managing to organise that tether and I was again on the burners standing up G-DIPI.
Lips & Dips: The Fiesta Fortnight and First Special Shape Flight
The next outing was for Choc Dips during the ‘fiesta fortnight’, a series of organised launches across Bristol as an alternative to the full fiesta that year. I found out that a tether was planned for Queen Square early one morning. I just had to try and organise something. I phoned Bradley and he was up for driving down from Oxford that night to pick the balloon up ready to meet him on site at 5:30am. I cleared it with Clive at the fiesta and all was good; they’re hardly going to turn down a shape tethering for free, I thought!
It turned out to be a fantastic morning tethering for 35 minutes with plenty of people passing through the square stopping to take a quick photo. I felt like I was giving something back to the fiesta, an event I’d loved so much all my life and wanted to keep supporting it. Once we packed away, we headed for breakfast joined by friends and owners of Bristol Balloon Collectors Dan and Liam and were talking about the shapes and what I was planning to do with them. I said I hoped to get lips in the air but needed a pilot. Dan said, “there’s a pilot sitting around the table”, and I looked across to Bradley. At the end of that fiesta weekend, he took the lips logbook back to Oxfordshire and matched up his basket, cylinders and burner with help from his local inspector. We agreed we would attempt one flight in September. After one failed attempt due to breezy conditions and a rubbish direction, the next night on 6th September we flew for the first time in very light winds from the Bath maize field. Glancing up seeing some giant and slightly odd looking red lips sticking out the side of the balloon versus a standard round envelope shape was pretty cool.
Read about Joycam Lips’ first flight here.
Both shapes appeared at all 3 major UK events during 2022 - Midlands, Bristol and Longleat. This is what I wanted to achieve after buying both the year before and thanks to everyone’s help, we did just that!
Orange
Now we move into early 2022. After a nice few months off over Christmas with plenty of time away from thinking about balloons I was ready to start up again. Although I was so pleased with the original 2 shapes from last year and thought they went together well, I really wanted another. But which one? Hmmmm.
I spoke to a few close friends and compiled a list of shapes that might potentially be for sale, but one stood out. Cameron Orange-120 G-CDXW was owned by Andrew Kaye who at the time had the Bertie Bassetts and was a big figure in the world of special shapes, not just in the UK. A lovely balloon in the shape of an orange with pretty orange segments, still flyable and stunning for night glows; I was keen to find out more.
After having a good think about it I decided to negotiate a deal. On 20th March me and Bradley headed up to Northampton to collect and brought it back to Bristol. One difficulty and something I had zero knowledge about at the time was this balloon had a Velcro rip panel deflation system versus the standard parachute we were all used to. Andrew very kindly offered to demonstrate how it worked. Upon arrival to the gates, we could see something bright and orange in colour led out, we were in the right place!
Flying with a parachute the pilot can release some hot air out the top by pulling the red line, often when coming into land needing a quick descent and useful during glows. You can’t do that as effectively with the orange as it only has a small dump valve. Once you pull the red line, it opens the locks, and the panel falls out with no going back. Although it sounds scary, done properly it is of course completely safe. The panel is sealed by joining up the Velcro starting at the sides ensuring the load tapes are pealed back, with the metal locks looped through the fabric at each corner and secured with nylon thread as recommended by Cameron Balloons. It’s important to ensure the corners are flush and as the panel is made bigger than the hole to allow for some give, there will always be a few ripples along top Velcro; nothing to worry about.
Indicating right out of the storage unit and heading towards the main road as the sun beamed down on us, Bradley said, “Right, are we going to inflate it today then?”. I thought, yeah, why not?! A quick stop off for lunch then Ashton Court awaited. En route I posted alerting people to get up there and that we had an early evening surprise to kick off the 2022 season. We met Liam, Dan and Tom and inflated it to a small crowd; it looked superb in the sunlight, and I was very, very pleased with it. About 10 minutes after revealing our third shape at MJ Ballooning, I received a message from pilot Jamie Edwards reading “If you are in the market for a coffee jar to join your shapes line up let me know”.
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Read about the orange reveal with more info here.
After a frustrating season we only managed to fly the orange recently at Longleat, but it has also been tethered at Telford and Bristol, including a special appearance on ITV’s Good Morning Britain breakfast show.
Maxwell House Coffee Jar
Okay, there’s no hiding it now; I was getting a bit obsessed with all this shape madness. MJ Ballooning was not only becoming increasingly recognised for local flying updates, videos, and photos but also as a special shapes team. I finally felt like I was someone in ballooning and not just that kid at the corner of the field with his camera.
Special shape number 4 was Maxwell House G-BVBK, which is one of two identical coffee jar balloons built by Thunder & Colt in 1993. A classic shape with standard parachute and no Velcro’s but extremely tall. Plus just 40 hours in the logbook. I knew it was available after the message a few months previously but to be truthful I wasn’t mad about it to start with. Well, after reading and looking up pictures I decided, no, it would be a fantastic addition.
On 2nd May we reached a deal, the C of A was booked in with Chris Dunkley and the arrangement was to pick up and exchange folder at Ragley Hall. I phoned up Bradley straight after and he agreed to fly it for me, brilliant! As we were leaving for Midlands, I had a phone call from Jamie saying about an issue with 2 of the flying wires which resulted in the balloon failing the C of A, not what I wanted to hear. But Chris was fixing and completing the paperwork meaning we would have to collect from him in Wendover. With help from friend Mark, we headed up to Buckinghamshire one Friday morning and brought yet another special shape back to Bristol with us.
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To date the team have enjoyed flights from Bradford-on-Avon, Newbury, Telford Balloon Festival and Devon’s Big Weekend. It flies well but like lots of tall, older shapes the bottom doesn’t fill out particularly well when descending. Due to the cylinder shape, you can move up and down pretty quick in the air as well!
These 4 were great but I really wanted a character shape…
Slick the Dragon
Another balloon on that list I made before buying the orange was the ex-Palletways dragon special shape, 2010 Lindstrand LBL Box G-PNAD. Artwork was partly removed in 2018 and when sold the registration changed from G-PLLT. Slick was one of my all-time fiesta favourites currently owned by Allie and Nick Dunnington who after owning for 3 years and a trip to Sint Niklaas, wanted rid due to being heavy, taking up space and not having the time due to commercial flying commitments. Finding out more info crossed my mind but this one was different; it’s much newer and would be much more costly.
April arrived and Allie was preparing for a commercial flight for Virgin from Bristol. I wandered over and briefly mentioned my interest in the dragon, sparking a 5 minute conversation. Surrounded by a few balloonists at the time, a little shocked I was going after another shape so soon after the orange but not knowing about the coffee jar as well, I was hopeful that with some financial help from a friend we could do it. Other international buyers including American shapes collector Linas Mastis were also interested but I wanted to get there first.
On my way to stay over in Ashton one night as I was trying to do a deal and getting very close, I walked through Greville Smyth Park on the way and stood in the exact same spot as I did 10 years ago, thinking about that amazing press launch morning watching the dragon fly. My 12 year old self would never have believed all these years later I’d be so close to calling that balloon, my best-loved balloon (behind the Piper), my own. I had to do it. Decision made.
But I couldn’t do it on my own. My friend Chris and I went half each to secure the private sale. We picked it up on 31st May and revealed on the same night as the coffee jar on 10th July. It was hard not posting anything for 6 weeks, but I wanted to wait for that perfect summer evening. It’s extremely heavy and hard work but rewarding seeing the smiles from both children and adults watching as he stands up or takes to the skies. 10 Velcro slots can be found on the dragon part, which we try to avoid opening so we don’t have to frantically run around underneath the balloon quickly sealing them as Bradley hot inflates. Each top and bottom corner has a small Velcro as well as one in the tail, which must be opened otherwise we’d be in the field all day waiting for the air to disappear.
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We have since flown Slick from York, Midlands, Bristol, and Bath’s Royal Crescent, all piloted by Bradley. Slick flies very well for such a big shape and uses significantly less gas than lips and the coffee jar. Ahead of Yorkshire Balloon Fiesta we had some fun (it wasn’t fun at all) linking the basket up with the envelope, something I just assumed would be straightforward. How wrong was I! Lindstrand were different to other manufacturers and have very strict, precise rules to which basket types can be used as appose to Cameron’s who allow any suitable basket to be linked up. Inspector Lee helped with paperwork and kindly allowed us to borrow his 120 basket for the event once I had the green light from the chief airworthiness engineer at Cameron’s. Good to go!
The Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2022
The 2022 fiesta will always be a memorable one for me. Covid was a thing of the past, the full scale 4 days of the fiesta were returning, and I now had 5 special shapes to my name. Should I enter the original Joycam Lips and Choc Dips from 2021? Or Slick? And Maxwell and Orange? I couldn’t decide. I entered them all. All were accepted apart from Maxwell House due to Costa Coffee sponsoring but that probably did me a favour as we struggled enough with the others as it was.
The event fell on the hottest weekend of the summer with temperatures reaching 35°C+ with scorching sunshine without a cloud in the sky. But no complaining from me and the team, we got on with it. Joycam Lips flew every slot and made its fiesta debut after 22 years while Choc Dips, Orange and Slick tethered throughout. As a result of the heat all evening launches were cancelled and although disappointing, it allowed us to do something very special indeed on Friday night.
Read our blog on the 2022 fiesta scorcher here.
Feeling ambitious, approaching the event I announced to the team I wanted all 4 shapes stood up beside each other if the weather allowed. I’d spoken to a few pilots in the build-up and insurance was sorted. Just before the Friday briefing already with 2 tether pilots on board, knowing there would be no flying, I spoke to Pete on the fiesta committee and asked if he could announce that I’m after 2 extra pilots to help tether. I thought best to give it a go but probably not going to happen. Straight after pilots Derek and Rob came to speak to me and volunteered to help. And even when I asked Derek to tackle the beast of the dragon, he still said yes! Organising tether vehicles in particular was a nightmare and very stressful, but we got there.
This tether also coincided with my first proper interview with BBC Radio Bristol who filmed and spoke to me on the afternoon all about the special shape balloons I had attending. A private team doing all this for fun and no commercial gain was somewhat unheard of and an interesting story. Once the cameras were off, they said they’d like to film some of my balloons that evening and asked what I had planned. Well, it as it turned out, quite a lot.
Many thanks to Bradley, Rob, Derek, and Ben for help that night – it remains one of my favourite moments in ballooning so far.
Watch the BBC Radio Bristol interview here.
Snow White
A busy flying season was done and dusted, and we were nearly all set to go again in 2023. We started out nicely getting lips almost 2 years ago and the dragon more recently, but now I was looking for some even more complex balloons; definitely no round with add-ons. A tall shape would be nice.
I got in touch with Andrew, who I had previously purchased the orange from, to ask about a few balloons including one I had watched fly from the Bristol Balloon Fiesta as a 13 year old, the Snow White doll. Babybel was another on my radar but that was going to the Team for Old Balloons collection in the Netherlands run by friend Gerard van der Pluijm. Gerard looks after his collection well and I was pleased for him as ‘Mr Cool’ is one of his favourite shapes, just like Slick was for me.
We spoke about it at length, and I realised the doll would not be an easy one. As with all hot air balloons, heat rises therefore the fabric is thinner at the top of the envelope and this was very much the case with Snow White, so much so that it causes the skirt and mouth to close in at the bottom. To help prevent this from happening you must keep the fan pointed up at the scoop (the material between basket and Nomex) for a constant supply of cold air. The vibrancy of the fabric is still superb and still looks new, so although not ideal I could live with the fan thing. Even though it has just 30 hours logged, sadly tall shapes just don’t last like other balloons.
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Next problem – it’s in Germany. So far, all my others had been UK based so apart from some lengthy trips on the motorway it was fairly easy. Andrew sorted shipping using a company recommended by a fellow balloonist and within a few weeks was back in the UK. Friend Mark and I drove to Northampton to pick it up on 23rd April. Our first inflation of Snow White took place on 19th May at home of Bristol ballooning Ashton Court and was also the balloon’s first time out the bag since Longleat in 2019, when I was there watching.
Once it’s time to pull the balloon out it just goes on and on and on… standing an impressive 47 metres tall, it’s the same height as Piper and Bertie’s. She has 2 rip panels, one in the back and head, with 4 locks to secure. It’s a time consuming process for what is usually no more than a 5 minute stand up but it’s worth the effort. Velcro’s are located in each shoe, shoulder and arm. As the balloon inflates face down the slot on the blue bow doesn’t need to be touched and remains sealed.
Now 14 months on from our first visit to Northampton to view the orange, I had learnt and taught myself a lot. I was actually getting quite good at knowing how to work these shapes and always in charge when coming to secure the panels amongst our team. We had all gained so much knowledge of how to handle the balloons but each one was completely unique.
Sonic the Hedgehog
This next one is a shape I never considered possible to get. Sonic the Hedgehog was a firm favourite amongst many during its commercial days in the 1990s, attending all the major UK balloon events, but ended up residing in Connecticut, USA but owned in Ireland. Speaking to friend Dan who runs his own collection, we randomly started talking one day about Sonic and how it’s a shame it’s ended up so far away. Somehow that conversation sparked something in my brain, and I kept thinking, couldn’t we get it back? Considering the cost of shipping it was looking unlikely.
I floated the idea with Chris who I own half of the dragon with, and he was on board for going half each, therefore I contacted owner Malcolm to discuss everything. I had spoken with him a few months previously about the Philips light bulb shape and was already aware we weren’t the only people interested in Sonic. To cut a long story short, we agreed a price with extra monetary help from friend Kirstie, the balloon was prepared for international shipping, and I began to make arrangements with the shipping company. It arrived at London Heathrow via air freight from Lehigh Valley airport in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, then delivered to Bristol.
On 5th July the envelope completed its long journey to Bristol in a huge, articulated lorry reading “specialist airfreight carriers” on the side. We’d done it, Sonic was here along with original G-SEGA and USA reg N750SH logbooks. The 3 of us agreed the big reveal would be planned for Bristol Balloon Fiesta’s opening day.
I phoned Ben Hardy, the man in charge of the fiesta and REM managing director, in July telling him of our plans to bring an iconic 90s shape back to this year’s fiesta and that it absolutely had to be a secret otherwise it would be ruined. We were both on the same page and agreed we’d work together over the coming month to try and build up the excitement.
As we reached the end of July, Snow White, Choc Dips and Slick had all been announced as attending but the mystery #number4 remained a secret. A team of 5 of us headed out in the middle of the night a week before meeting at 3am to ensure Sonic’s many Velcro’s were sealed ready for his first public appearance. I know, we are crazy!
We posted this the night before the fiesta…
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On Thursday Ben introduced me to the ITV News team on site who wanted to conduct an interview, which we did just before our quick inflation of Choc Dips that afternoon. Shortly after he rushed over informing me that ITV would be going live at 6pm and he’d love if we could get Sonic up at that time.
Watch the ITV News interview here.
By this stage people must have suspected we had something pretty cool planned. As much as I love our original G-LIPS, that might have been a tad disappointing! It was breezy and I wasn’t convinced this was going to happen. We set up our basket and tether ropes alongside a number of other teams and as we dumped the enormous 320kg envelope bag out onto the launch field I could see everyone having a good look over.
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Pulling out the blue fabric and red feet sticking out it soon became obvious to the nearby crowd as to which balloon #number4 was: Sonic was back in Bristol after 26 years! The next hour zoomed by in what felt like minutes. Sonic was inflated for half an hour and featured on ITV News that night. The secret spine story was finally out! I spoke across the tannoy, as I did before both glows this year, to the fiesta commentator trying my best to answer his questions but I seemed to had temporarily lost my voice! Maybe if you were there you can tell me if you could hear a word I said! It must have been from shouting over the fans to people about something or other.
Sonic also made 2 appearances at the 2023 Telford Balloon Fiesta during the glow and Saturday night tether, but we still wait for a really calm day to properly inflate him. Opening the Velcro’s in the bright red feet and blowing the cold fan in for 30 seconds each helps pressurize the envelope and fill the feet out for a short time.
Action Man
We’d just got Sonic, the fiesta madness was over and were now away at the next balloon event, the Northampton Balloon Festival. Lots of shapes were attending including the original Chubb, Agfa, FT newspaper and our very own Slick the Dragon, but buying another was the last thing on my mind that weekend. Upon arrival one envelope bag in the marquee, by far the biggest, caught my eye in particular: Action Man G-CGIS. I had a flashback to that 2012 special shape launch again, the anticipation of whether Action Man would be there and if I’d finally see him in real life all those years ago.
The balloon had been stored with Northamptonshire based balloonist Matt since its appearance at Midlands but was still owned in Germany by Gaby and Karl Grünauer, also past owners of Snow White and Babybel. It hadn’t been out the bag for 5 years and I started to consider if they would sell. Encouraged by my friends and keen myself, I approached Matt to discuss the possibility of buying Action Man and whether it’s available and had an answer almost straight away - yes. It was another double rip panel shape, but I was now quite experienced with how they work. Later that day I agreed a price and ended up collecting the balloon at 11pm before the late drive back home to Bristol. The size and weight of this giant 358kg bag made the 218kg lips bag I first handled 2 years ago feel lightweight. Thanks Dan for driving and Jayden for putting up with, let’s say a change of plan. I couldn’t believe I now owned this balloon, this balloon which is regarded as one of the best special shapes ever built and one I have such fond childhood memories of.
One thing to note with Action Man is during its last few inflations the legs and bottom of the envelope didn’t fill out properly, but I was confident with 2 powerful fans each side of the mouth, plenty of heat and weight in the basket we could. And we did. A week later we headed to Ashton Court with pilot Craig Thompson to get familiar with how the balloon handles and see if we could get it well pressurised, something they didn’t manage on previous inflations.
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The initial ‘test’ inflation went very well and looked even better than I hoped, so we looked ahead to next Sunday to do it all over again, but this time invite our followers to watch.
We posted up the day before: “Attention, special shape announcement. Join us at Ashton Court tomorrow, Sunday 3rd Sept, for an exclusive inflation of ACTION MAN from 6pm. All welcome.
Tomorrow is the only chance this year to see Action Man, one of the greatest special shapes ever, created right here in Bristol by Cameron Balloons over 25 years ago. Pictures don’t do justice in terms of scale, he’s a beast! It promises to be a memorable evening.
If you’re thinking of coming along, follow the path from the car park keeping the mansion house on the left and you’ll see us setting up on the right. See you tomorrow.”
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Something absolutely amazing happened, around 500 of our loyal followers turned up to watch. I was expecting maybe 50 if we were lucky but felt immensely proud that I had built this community from literally nothing and hoped it would inspire the next generation. Stepping back from the balloon after opening the leg Velcro’s and blowing some cold air in, I could hardly see the grass it was so packed with people! What a nice way to finish the weekend. This also sparked the BBC’s interest, and I joined Paris Troy up at broadcasting house in Clifton for a live early morning interview.
Pilot for Action Man, Craig Thompson, said “I was asked by Matt from MJ Ballooning to help inflate a balloon one evening and when he told me it’s Action Man, I got really excited. I first helped on that balloon when I was 17 years old. Matt posted it on Facebook that we were doing it at Ashton Court and the turnout was amazing, hundreds of people turned up to see the balloon and it was a great feeling to inflate such an iconic shape”.
Flying high across the UK...
Here's a few images of our balloons flying and tethering at events we’ve attended…
Pilot at MJ Ballooning, Bradley Lewis, reflects, “Flying special shape hot air balloons presents a unique set of challenges due to their unconventional designs. They can exhibit distinct aerodynamic behaviours.
Narrow or tall shapes like Maxwell House can dart up and down quite quickly. It can also experience a wobble from being so tall and different winds being present at the top and bottom of the balloon.
Boxy or wide shapes such as the ex-Palletways dragon, Slick, don’t have good aerodynamic properties and don’t climb or descend as quickly as you might like. Especially when there is a slight temperature inversion at ground level, and you want to push the box through it. It is also wise to remember he is as wide at the bottom as he is at the top, so caution when flying near pointy things – trees, lampposts, as they can catch you out, as the previous owner of this balloon found out (see video).
I couldn’t pick one flight that was the greatest, I enjoy having the privilege of flying these great shapes and keeping them in the imaginations of the next generation of balloonists.”
None of this would be possible without help from loyal friends and helpers. Not just the fun part at events but the hot, tiring work loading and unloading balloons from vans before and after every outing. Big thanks to Mark for helping me transport everything and Dan, Bradley, Liam, Chris, Jayden, Kirstie, Tom, and anyone else who’s helped at all over the last few years. Also, thanks to Lee and Steve for inspections and paperwork.
We are looking at expanding our team for 2024 so please do get in touch if you’re interested.
At time of writing, I have 8,378 Facebook followers and approaching 2 million YouTube views from a channel I started in 2015 with a handful of short videos. Amazingly I am also recognised sometimes around Bristol and have even been asked for autographs and photos whilst attending launches! I’m still just a crazy hot air balloon obsessed kid at heart, never did I imagine I’d get to where I am today.
Now we have a more sophisticated system than mentioned in Part 1 for posting updates via Live Flight Updates, which shows number of balloons expected for each AM / PM slot from April to October from Ashton Court and Royal Victoria Park.
If you see me walking around with a blue hedgehog, biscuit sticks tub or green dragon on my polo shirt please do say hello. Maybe you share the same memories as written in this blog we can talk about.
From a young kid taking blurred photographs and zooming into balloons with a cheap pair of binoculars, now my balloons are the main attractions at balloon festivals we attend. How did that happen?! I guess if you’ve read this far, you’ll know how.
Every balloon under MJ Ballooning is very well looked after and are regularly inflated in order to preserve them for future generations to enjoy, just like I have growing up. I am incredibly lucky to be in this position and able to get these amazing shapes, many of which I’ve loved so much as a child; words cannot describe when it comes to Choc Dips, Slick and Action Man in particular.
I still have to pinch myself sometimes. But no, it’s not a dream, this is reality.
Thanks for reading!
The final Part 3 has now landed - read now!
