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By Jade, December 20, 2012 5:50 pm

January

Following their acquisition of Northern Rock, Virgin Money launched their brilliant new advert, ‘40 Years of Better’, marking the start of their ‘quest to make banking better.’ We featured alongside Virgin Records, Virgin Galactic, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Trains as the commercial celebrates the rich history of the Virgin brand. Take a look back and view the TV ad on Youtube here.

February

Adam Fleetwood accepted the challenge to represent Virgin Balloon Flights and complete the Virgin Marathon, all in aid of Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Adam put together a short movie to win the Virgin votes, which you can watch on YouTube here.

Every year the British Heart Foundation has a National Wear Red Day and as always, staff here donned their best red clobber and ate beautiful heart covered cupcakes.

March

Our Virgin London Marathon runner Adam Fleetwood completed the ‘Adidas Silverstone Half Marathon’ as part of his training and his fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital reached over the £2000 mark.

April

The villagers of Wray celebrated  their Silver Jubilee of their annual country fair. Visitors flocked from far and wide to wander round the picturesque Lancashire village of Wray and enjoy the scarecrows which take over each spring. We donated a champagne balloon flight for two as the winners prize for the best scarecrow competition which saw a range of traditional designs, topical creations, some ingenious moving masterpieces and with the Olympics on its way, Olympic-themed scarecrows.

May

We had the first proposal of 2012 when Karl Dalgarno popped the question to partner Lucy Jenkins, 3000ft up in the air.

June

With our 2012 flying season well under way, we officially introduced our new pilots Bart D’Hooge, Chris Oxby, Peter Philpot and Russell Collins.

July

Here at Virgin Balloon flights we teamed up with Daffodil Waves Photography to offer one loved-up couple the chance to win a photo shoot in skies on board one of our balloons. The photoshoot took place on a lovely June evening.

August

August was a time for some brilliant summer events. We celebrated the Great British summer at Bristol International Balloon Fiesta with our record breaking  tea party in the sky (highest open-air airborne tea party). We served sandwiches and cream cakes to our competition winners on china crockery and they enjoyed Twinings tea and English sparkling wine as they floated along, while classical string music played in the bunting-clad basket.

We also had first visit to V Festival at Hylands Park in Essex where we tethered a balloon at the weekend and what a scorcher it was! We provided some additional entertainment for the crowd who could see our balloon from the main stage, bobbing away to music from the likes of Tom Jones and Snow Patrol.

September

A huge achievement for our pilot Lindsay Muir who won the 2nd FAI European Women’s Hot Air Balloon Championship. Congratulations again Lindsay!

Meanwhile, at our Head Office, we took part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning in support of Macmillan Cancer Support.

October

Operations technician, Roger Vint was selected as our ‘Star of the Year’ and celebrated in style at Holly and Sam Branson’s house, alongside Sir Richard himself! Meanwhile, back at Head Office, we all got pretty in pink as part of the Breast Cancer Campaign ‘wear it pink’ day.

November

Martin Chamberlain joined us for an airborne adventure from Wadhurst, Kent, and having won the hot air balloon ride over Kent through a photographic competition (sponsored by Canon), it’s no wonder he captured some amazing shots of the views below the basket.

December

Nicola from Daffodil Waves photography was the judge for our pilot and crew photo competition and our passenger photo competition.  Neil Marshall was chosen as the winner of our pilot and crew photo competition. Here is the winning snapshot:

The winner of our passenger competition was Kate Williams with this misty photo:

Thanks to all of our pilots, crew, staff, customers, launch sites and partners for a fantastic year.

Merry Christmas and we’re looking forward to a brilliant 2013!

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By Jade, July 25, 2012 1:05 pm

Imagine if your ‘office’ was a floating basket, mid-air above the British countryside and your role involved meeting new people everyday and making their dream of flying come true. Pretty good job right?

Well that’s exactly what our hand-picked pilots get to do. Ballooning is one of the most magical experiences and not only do they enjoy regularly flying a basket full of lovely passengers, but they’ve also had the chance to break world records, fly special shape baloons and float over famous landmarks all over the world. We recently spoke to some of our pilots and asked what their most memorable, exciting or different flights were.

Pilot Brad Smith remembers one of his most adventurous flights in Kenya, flying over the Masai Mara where he flew over the Big Five wild animals. He said “When I landed the balloon, the passengers climbed on aboard the 4×4 and then lions started to circle the empty balloon!” Luckily Brad got away to fly another day and doesn’t see too many lions where he flyings northern Scotland.

Experienced pilot Bart D’Hooge has flown in many special places over the years but says the one flight he will never forget is his first solo flight. “I really had a sense of freedom I had never experienced before.” Bart now enjoys this unique sensation when flying passengers in southern Scotland.

Pilot Chris Oxby has had the opportunity to fly a variety of balloons, including the 150ft tall ‘Bertie Basset’ special shape. But says, his most memorable flight is flying over a rain-forest on the Caribbean Island of Antigua and taking off from an altitude of 10,000 feet on the Dachstein glacier in Austria. He recalled, “There were about 12 balloons launching altogether. It was a fantastic flight, we went up to 14,000 feet at one point, and finally landed 6000 feet lower than the launch site!”

Chris Wood has had so many interesting flights, he had to think for ages until deciding the flight that sneaks into first place is a flight over the Alps back in 2006 from Dobbiaco in Italy to Munich in Germany. He remembers the excitement as “En route we had planes flying under us into Innsbruck, Austria and we cut out 150 miles of our road journey home, but unfortunately not for the chase crew!”

Damon Bridger’s most interesting flight was one he did with Blind Date in Italy, he said it was particularly memorable as the couple he flew ended up getting married! They were only one of three couples to ever get hitched from the show so it really must have been something special.

Des Bimson chose his most memorable ballooning experience as the four hour flight over the Swiss Alps, he said “It was one of those days where the conditions were perfect, the views across the Alps were stunning’.

Russell Collins has a rather sentimental memory of flying his family and close friends across the channel from England to France in 2011. He said “The flight, as well as being conducted in fantastic conditions, marked a defining moment in a progression from a childhood desire to fly balloons to the long awaited reality of flying my nearest and dearest across the channel personally in my hot air balloon. It was special to share such a flight with my passengers that day. The flight was also part of a world record breaking mass balloon crossing of the channel which raised good money for various charities. A fine day.”

Experienced pilot Mark Simmons(also known as Nobby!) found it hard to choose just one flight as he has flown over 2500 times. He couldn’t pick the one flight but he managed to pin do wn to two, one recent memorable flight on Christmas Day in 2011 – his first ever flight on Christmas. The flight took place over the Temples of Bagan in Burma and he remembered the overwhelming heat of 30 degrees at 6am! The second flight was flying Beverley Knight at Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2011. “She did an amazing acoustic set at 1000ft high, her voice echoed inside the balloon and sounded great.”

Rebecca Cains told us her most memorable flight was definitely over the Palmyra in Syria which is located in an oasis just outside Damascus. She recalled “The ancient ruins of the Arabic city provided the most amazing views from the balloon.”

You too can experience a flight with one of our fantastic pilots and create a ballooning memory of your own. If you’ve already flown with us and want to share your experience, visit our facebook page as we’d love to hear your story!

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By Alex, July 20, 2012 2:41 pm

Here at Virgin Balloon Flights we’re celebrating the Great British summer by hosting a unique tea party in the sky and are offering one lucky winner the chance to be a guest.

The special flight will take place at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2012 on August 10 at Ashton Court in Bristol – one of Virgin Balloon Flights’ 100+ UK locations for balloon rides.

Passengers will be served finger sandwiches and cream cakes on china crockery as they float over Bristol in a spectacular mass assent with scores of other balloons. Twinings tea, English sparkling wine and traditional lemonade will also be poured instead of the usual champagne.

Weather permitting, the balloon will soar up to at least 1000ft in the air and the event is thought to be one of the highest open-air tea parties ever organised.

Virgin Balloon Flights’ pilot Mark Simmons, from Atworth near Bath, will fly the 100ft tall balloon for the unusual tea party. Mr Simmons, who has been flying for 23 years and holds the world record for the highest concert in a hot air balloon, said it promised to be an unforgettable occasion.

Mark said: “There is so much positive patriotic energy around at the moment and, as our balloon rides give people a unique way of seeing beautiful Britain, we wanted to do something fun to capture that feeling. What better way than with a tea party in a hot air balloon, following in the fine Victorian traditions where an impressive venue was just as important as the china, doilies, scones and cream teas. I think we’ve got that covered!”

Twelve passengers will be on board the flight and Virgin Balloon Flights are running a prize draw offering one winner and a guest the chance to take part, including a hotel stay the night before. They will also receive a Tea Hamper, courtesy of Twinings, and a copy of the new ‘Great British Bake Off – How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers’ book by Linda Collister, out on August 2, published by BBC Books.

To enter visit the Tea Party in the Sky competition page on Facebook and where you will find more details and full terms and conditions.

There are still limited places available on flights at Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2012 between August 9th – 12th. Call 0844 844 8080 for more information or to book. To buy a flight voucher or view our other locations visit the official Virgin Balloon Flight website.

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By Jade, July 18, 2012 12:30 pm

Between the 9^th and 12^th of August this year, the 34^th Annual Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is set to take place. One of our largest Virgin hot air balloons will be there to whisk our passengers skywards on a Champagne balloon ride.

The first ever Bristol Balloon Fiesta took place in 1979 when a small gathering of like-minded balloonists came together to launch their balloons from Ashton Court. Onlookers were wowed by the mass ascent of 27 balloons and enjoyed many other flights that took place throughout the weekend. Since then, interest has increased in the Fiesta more and more each year, until gradually growing into what is now Europe’s largest annual hot air balloon festival.

Pilots from all parts of the UK and the rest of the world bring their balloons to Ashton Court to participate in the event. Recent fiesta’s have gathered over  100 hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes to entertain more than 500,000 spectators who attend the  three day event. Spectacular take-offs happen twice a day, one to enjoy the sunrise and one just in time for sunset. There are also two spectactular night glow events on the Thursday and Saturday evenings.

At Virgin, we’ve had some exciting flights at the fiesta such as a fantastic mid-air performance from singing sensation Beverley Knight who joined us last year for an exclusive performance for Virgin Red Room.

“I enjoyed every minute of the flight and really didn’t want it to end. It was nothing like I thought it would be because I expected to hear the wind and for it to be bumpier, but it was smooth, silent and so clear up there. I would love to do it all again tomorrow!” Beverley told us.

Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Mark Simmons, from nearby Melksham, is a regular participant at the famous balloon event.

He said, “Virgin Balloon Flights are set to take part in Bristol Balloon Fiesta this year and we’re delighted to be involved again because it’s a spectacular event and a real showcase for ballooning. I’m looking forward to it!”

This unique event provides tons of entertainment including fairground rides, daredevil motorcycle stuntmen, parachutists leaping from helicopters and of course amazing airborne antics from over 100 beautiful hot air balloons.

You can join Virgin and be a part of it all by purchasing a special Bristol Balloon Fiesta ride voucher for £180 per person. Existing customers can also take part by upgrading their existing voucher. Spaces are very limited and are available on a first come, first served basis, so don’t hesitate to book your flight now! Call our office on 0844 844 8080 for more information.

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By Alex, December 19, 2011 3:10 pm

Well, the festive season has landed and 2011 has simply flown by here at Virgin Balloon Flights. (New Year’s resolution: no more balloon puns!).

It’s been a fantastic 12 months with thousands of new airborne adventurers, fantastic personal achievements by staff and charity campaigns galore! Enjoy some of our highlights in pictures below.

January

Steve Dubois of SteveOnTheRun.co.uk,  from Virgin Media in Cambridge, visited Virgin Balloon Flights HQ for a training run with our Eve (who ran a half marathon this year for Hope Hope) and Sue as part of his preparation for the Virgin London Marathon. Entrepreneur Mark Pearson, of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk fame, told us about his unforgettable balloon flight in Surrey the previous season.

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By Eve, October 27, 2011 1:05 pm

Internet entrepreneur Jeanie and colleague Jackie were whisked high above the skies of Kent on their Wadhurst flight last month with pilot Damon Bridger.

Famous for her bright pink hairdo and savvy shopper website Mad About Bargains, Jeanie was originally scheduled to launch from the spectacular Bristol International Balloon Fiesta along with Jackie back in June after winning a competition hosted by Virgin Balloon Flights.  With gusty winds proving challenging for all pilots that day their original flight had to wait, not long though and within a matter of weeks they were experiencing what it is like to see beautiful Britain from above in a Virgin hot air balloon. We asked Jeanie what she made of her balloon ride and if geography and company were no object, where and with whom she would most like to fly:-

“It has been on my bucket list for some time and I enjoyed every minute.

I would love to do a balloon flight over somewhere really spectacular like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls (if possible) and I think the most interesting person to do the flight with would of course be Sir Richard Branson (and I am not just saying that). I have run various businesses since I was very young and I think he is a fascinating person.

Thank you again for the fantastic prize. It is something we will both always remember.”

– Jeanie, Founder, Mad About Bargains

After landing and enjoying the traditional Champagne toast that accompanies all of our flights, Jackie said:

“We had the most amazing experience and would like to thank you and everyone at Virgin Balloons again! We loved the Champagne, the whole experience was really lovely, they made everyone feel special.” – Jackie, Mad About Bargains

To see for yourself what a ballooning experience is all about visit our brand new Experience page to see videos, experience a 360° virtual tour from the air, view our gallery, read our pilot profiles and to read some of our passenger testimonials.

To enjoy a hot air balloon ride from just £89 from Kent or any other county within the UK visit our locations page to see which launch sites are available near you.

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By Alex, August 22, 2011 9:23 am

A Virgin hot air balloon has floated onto TV screens in the Ukraine after an unforgettable flight at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

A lovely film crew from Inter TV came ballooning over Bristol with us as they covered the world famous event earlier this month.

A spectacular mass launch from Ashton Court gave them some wonderful footage and they interviewed pilot Mark Simmons about life as a balloonist.

They were also treated to a sensational performance by UK Queen of Soul Beverley Knight during an exclusive airborne session for Virgin Red Room.

See the film on the Inter TV website here

Join us for your own balloon flight in Bristol

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By Alex, August 12, 2011 5:23 pm

Virgin Balloon Flights hosted a sensational performance by British soul diva Beverley Knight in a hot air balloon during the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

Beverley’s session and interview were filmed for Virgin Red Room – Virgin.com’s online music show presented by Nissan Juke – and are now online to view here.

Her Virgin balloon took off with scores of other balloons from Bristol’s Ashton Court flew right across the city and landed an hour and twenty minutes later near Doynton, to the east.

Beverley performed forthcoming single Cuddly Toy, originally released by Roachford in 1988, from from her 7^th studio album ‘Soul UK’ produced by Grammy Award Winner Martin Terefe (James Morrison, Jason Mraz) and Future Cut (Beyonce, Lily Allen). Soul UK was released last month to widespread critical acclaim and was the week’s highest new entry on the UK album chart.

The album is a tribute to British artists who have influenced Beverley and features interpretations of songs by the likes of Soul II Soul, Omar and Jamiroqui.

During the flight Beverley described the ballooning experience to her followers on Twitter:

‘I cannot even begin to tell you how thrilling this is! @virginredroom virginballoons. Interview with @HenryOnAMission now. Xxxx’

‘Thank you @virginredroom @HenryOnAMission@VirginBalloons for making a dream come true! Xxxxx During the flight Beverley described the experience for her followers on Twitter.’

Back on the ground, Beverley said she had thoroughly enjoyed her visit to the fiesta and especially the balloon flight itself.

She said: “I enjoyed every minute of the flight and really didn’t want it to end. It was nothing like I thought it would be because I expected to hear the wind and for it to be bumpier, but it was smooth, silent and so clear up there. I would love to do it all again tomorrow,” she added.

“It was an amazing place to perform. When I was singing the sound just disappeared into the air, so you really had to listen and focus.

“Mark the pilot and the Virgin Balloon Flights crew were wonderful. They explained everything so lucidly that you always knew what was happening and we landed upright which was perfect.”

Virgin Balloon Flights pilot Mark Simmons, from nearby Melksham, is a regular participant at the famous balloon event.

He said: “Flying in the Bristol balloon fiesta is always fantastic and floating skywards at 1,000 feet with Beverley singing in the basket of our balloon was amazing. She’s an incredible performer and seemed to really enjoy the flight. It was an experience none of us will forget.”

To book a balloon flight over Bristol or beyond with Mark and the team visit the Virgin Balloon Flights website.

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By Alex, June 27, 2011 5:13 pm

We are delighted to announce that Virgin Balloon Flights will be flying at the 33rd Bristol International Balloon Fiesta  later this year.

Three Virgin balloons at Bristol Balloon Fiesta 1995

One of our largest Virgin hot air balloons will be whisking people skywards on Champagne balloon rides from Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2011 between August 11 and 14. 

The world famous ballooning event takes place at Bristol’s Ashton Court, one of over 100 Virgin Balloon Flights launch sites, and features hundreds of hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes including special shapes.

Around half a million people come to watch the fiesta each year and the event gives lucky passengers a rare chance to take part in a mass balloon launch, seeing Bristol from the sky.

You can fly from the balloon fiesta with us by purchasing a special Bristol Balloon Fiesta ride voucher for £180 per person. Existing customers can also take part by upgrading their existing voucher.

Spaces are very limited and are available on a first come, first served basis, so don’t hang about.

Visit the Bristol Balloon Fiesta balloon rides page on our website or call 01952 212750 for more information or to book.

A mass launch at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta

Pilot Mark Simmons, who will be flying from the fiesta, said: “It’s been a few years since Virgin Balloon Flights last took part in Bristol Balloon Fiesta and we’re delighted to be involved again because it’s a spectacular event and a real showcase for ballooning. We’re looking forward to it.”

Bristol Balloon Fiesta includes a host of entertainment for all the family including two spectacular night-glows. Visit the fiesta website for full information.