Comments (0)

By Eve, January 27, 2011 12:50 pm

As everyone knows here at Virgin nothing gets our pulses racing like a jolly good idea, preferably an exciting and innovative one.

Someone who is no stranger to just such bright ideas is young entrepreneur Mark Pearson, founder of the über-successful voucher-code website MyVoucherCodes.co.uk which saves its customers in excess of £50m a year! Since its inception in 2006 the site has rapidly grown to become one of the most successful voucher code sites.

Previously, Mark has worked with Gordon Ramsay as a commis chef and also as a rose etcher. In addition to MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, Mark’s company, Markco Media recently launched the popular group buying concept Groupola.com. Groupla.com harnesses the power of group buying and social media to build interest around exclusive offers.

Having worked with Mark’s companies first hand we know how inspiring their ideas can be, so it was only fitting that Mark and his colleague Aaron boarded one of our hot air balloon flights with our top notch Inspiration Package.

Our Inspiration Package comes with Sir Richard Branson’s autobiography Losing My Virginity in which there are many inspiring stories of how Branson overcame various hurdles when starting up his businesses. We asked Mark if, as a fellow entrepreneur, he could relate to Branson’s famous phrase “screw it let’s do it”?

Mark said,

I can definitely relate to the ‘screw it, let’s do it’ ethos Sir Richard has made famous! If I would have waited to launch MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, and not just ‘done it’, I may well not be sitting in the position I am now as an industry leader. I started MyVoucherCodes in my bedroom, and was amazed to be saving people thousands of pounds within days – to the point where we’re now saving Brits literally millions every single year!

I’m a firm believer that entrepreneurism is much more than just having a good idea – having the nerve to throw caution to the wind and go for it, especially in untested waters is what makes what we do so exciting.

We also asked Mark what he was most looking forward to about his flight:-

It’s not often as an entrepreneur that you get to enjoy the spoils of war, as it’s all too easy to plough on without taking time to relax. It’ll be fantastic to take a few hours away from my hectic schedule, and who knows, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two from Sir Richard’s book that will stand me in good stead to compete with him in the future!

Mark’s pilot was Spencer Craze who said that depending on the will of the wind, from their Fernhurst launchsite they could look forward to seeing Canary Wharf, the Isle of Wight, the vineyards of the South Downs or even the famous BBC Top Gear race track at Dunsfold Park Aerodrome. On their morning flight they had glorious sunshine and it was a lovely clear day, we’re really glad you had a great flight guys and we’d love to see you in the air again!

To fly over Sussex view our various launch sites to begin your airborne adventure.

Comments (0)

By Eve, January 20, 2011 4:13 pm

Thanks to the power of Twitter an inter-Virgin group training session took place at the Virgin Balloon Flights offices here in Telford last night.

Steve Dubois of SteveOnTheRun.co.uk, a Customer Journey Specialist from Virgin Media Cambridge joined our Virgin London Marathon first timer and Customer Service Representative Susan Bowerman and myself (Eve Ashwell, Digital Marketing) for a night time training session on his way back from a meeting in Manchester, after spotting Sue’s tweets about her training and getting in touch.

Steve, who is also a marathon virgin, is running for the Charlie and Kathleen Dunnery Children’s Fund (CKDCF) which was formed in 2002 with the sole aim of raising funds for children’s health, wellness and educational needs in and around the Cumbria area.

Sue said:

It was great to train with other people as I normally only run on my own – having others to run with meant I ran further and it felt much easier and more fun.

Like Sue, Steve hasn’t run since leaving school and says:

I haven’t run for 26 years, my 13 year old daughter thinks I’m mad and my wife is wondering what I’m going to attempt next. I believe that as humans we are capable of much more than we give ourselves credit for and I’m interested to find out how far I can go.

Sue is running for Hope House Children’s Hospices in Shropshire and is hoping to raise £10,000 whilst Steve is hoping to raise £6,000 for CKDCF and is one of ten other Virgin Media runners entering this year’s London Marathon. Steve is hoping to organise a relay of the 10 runners to run cross country between the Virgin Media HQ in Hook and the Virgin Mobile HQ in Trowbridge; we’ll be behind you every step of the way Steve.

To follow Sue’s progress catch up on her blog Virgin Marathon Girl and to follow Steve’s marathon miles visit his site Steve on the Run.

You can donate to Hope House at Sue’s Virgin Money Giving page.

Follow @VirginBalloons and @SteveOnTheRun on Twitter and also find us on Facebook.

Good luck Sue and Steve!

Comments (0)

By Alex, January 18, 2011 11:27 am

Generous companies have won the chance to be official sponsors on marathon girl Sue’s running vest after stumping up for Hope House Children’s Hospices.

The highly sought after spots on the back of Sue’s top for the Virgin London Marathon 2011 were put up for auction with the highest sponsorship pledges winning the spots. And our friends didn’t let us down.

In tied first place, both bidding an incredible £500, were two of our top affiliates; TravelPixel.net -  which offers select discount codes and travel deals from 100s of travel websites – and TopCashBack.co.uk – the UK’s most generous cashback site. Lemon Press the Redditch-based commercial printer took the third space with £225.

In total the running vest sponsorship raised £1225 pushing our current total over £2,000 and well on the way towards the £10,000 target for Hope House which will also have a logo on the vest.

Sue, who is now busily in training, said:

I really can’t thank the people from these companies enough. The sponsorship money pledged by TravelPixel, TopCashBack and Lemon Press has really given us a push towards our target and will make a massive difference for Hope House Children’s Hospices. I’ll be proud to represent these companies as well as Hope House and Virgin Unite on the big day!

To top-off a fantastic week of fundraising Miles Lovegrove, director of our merchandise supplier Fluid Branding, personally pledged to sponsor Sue for £500 and affiliate cashback site Quidco also pledged to show their support. Thanks so much!

Follow Sue’s progress on her Marathon Girl blog or sponsor her on her Virgin Money Giving Page.

Don’t forget the Virgin Balloon Flights raffle will be launching soon with fantastic prizes from across the Virgin Group. Tickets are £1 each and if you would like to buy or sell raffle tickets contact us.

Comments (0)

By Eve, January 16, 2011 11:10 am

We believe in freedom of expression which is why we regularly seek feedback from our customers about our balloon rides.

If we don’t know what’s broken, we won’t know it needs fixing. So, we like to get your thoughts on how we can improve our website when buying a balloon ride voucher.  We also like to know what you think of your hot air balloon ride with us and your pilot.

As most of our balloon rides are bought as gifts for birthdays, presents, anniversaries etc it’s not always the person that pays that gets to experience the wonderful world of ballooning, so it’s good to get a different perspective.

To say thank you for helping us out each flying season we randomly pick someone who has taken the time to complete one of our surveys (which are emailed out weekly) and send them a lovely case of wine from Virgin Wines worth over £100, and as the flying season ends around November, this tasty treat arrives just in time for Christmas.

Win a great mixed case of Virgin Wine

The lucky winner last season was Kevin Eaton from Ratby in Leicestershire. Kevin was over the moon as he said it was the first time he’d ever won anything.

Well done Kevin!

Thanks to you and everyone who shared their opinions with us last year.

Visit our website to buy a balloon ride voucher from just £89!

Comments (0)

By Alex, January 4, 2011 12:41 pm

The unmistakable sight of a Virgin balloon in flight has once again been spotted on television and this time it was floating over Lancashire on BBC 2’s Oz & Hugh Raise the Bar.

The series follows wine expert Oz Clark and comic actor Hugh Dennis as they toured the UK to find the finest independently produced beers, wines and spirits.

One of our hot air balloons appears in the distance high above the Lancashire countryside as the pair sample some wine at the Mount Pleasant Vineyard, at Bolton-le-Sands in Carnforth.

This was in the third episode of the series which was on over Christmas and New Year and can be viewed here on the BBC’s iPlayer. Look out for our balloon around 19 minutes and 11 seconds into the show as it drifts over the vineyard on a hill near Morecambe Bay.

Our hot air balloon in Lancashire is captained by highly-experienced local pilot John Fenton and launches from sites including Burton in Lonsdale, Crook O Lune near Lancaster, Kirkby Lonsdale and Wray. Click here to go ballooning in Lancashire.