Comments (2)

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!

Comments (0)

By Eve, December 12, 2011 5:18 pm

The number of hot air ballooning photos shared with us this season was higher than ever.  Not only did we see lots and lots but the standard and quality of those images was fantastic too.  So a huge thank you to everyone who shared their amazing images with us!

Receiving a massive 21.5% of overall votes to secure pole position in the Virgin Balloon Flights Annual Photo Competition 2011 was the breath-takingly atmospheric image taken over Longstanton in Cambridgeshire by Sam Tolley.

Sam Tolley's winning image: 1-10 Misty Morning

‘Misty Morning’ also won best in category securing a huge 29.4% of all the votes in Category 1 – Views from the Basket. Well done Sam; you’ve won a £125 Virgin Experience Days Gift Card for your category and overall win!

Sam shared ‘Misty Morning’ with us on the Virgin Balloon Flights Facebook page on 15th October 2011 and we thought it was pretty amazing back then – looks like we weren’t the only ones to think so.

The photo was taken on a morning flight departing from our Cambridge Golf Club (Longstanton) launch site as Sam was looking in an easterly direction whilst about a third of the way through his flight.

You can purchase a flight voucher to fly from Longstanton and appreciate these amazing views that Sam so spectacularly captured, from as little as £89! You can even receive 20% off a round of golf on us!

Runner Up Winners

Huge congratulations also go to our category winners who each win a £25 Virgin Experience Days Gift Card!

Category 1 – Views from the Basket Winner = Misty Morning by Sam Tolley

Category 2 – People and Balloons Winner = Inside the Balloon by John Wells

2-2 Inside the Balloon by John Wells

Category 3 – Images of Balloons Winner = In Essex by Danyelle Motley

3-3 In Essex by Danyelle Motley

Category 4 – The Mechanics of Ballooning Winner = Inflating the Balloon by Helen Lehan

4-3 Inflating the Balloon by Helen Lehan

Each flying season (March – November) we hold a Photo Competition so if you have any ballooning images (of Virgin balloons) that you would like to share, you can find out more here.

Well done to everyone who took part this season and we very much look forward to next year’s competition submissions.

To find out more about hot air ballooning with Virgin Balloon Flights including what to look forward to on the day of your flight visit our website virginballoonflights.co.uk.

Comments (0)

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.

Comments (0)

By Eve, October 3, 2011 7:51 pm

Most days in the Virgin Balloon Flights office are pretty exciting, and the last couple of days have certainly been no exception!

We’re delighted to announce that our brand new hot off the press shiny new website has now gone live.

October the 1^st heralded a new online beginning for Virgin balloons with a much brighter, more social, more engaging new website that is faster, more customer focussed and more informative than ever.

Would be balloonists can find out which launch site locations we fly from all over the UK and see a fully interactive Google Map giving and indication of what might be in store on their balloon ride.  Of course no two balloon flights are ever the same and depending on the will of the wind who knows what sights will come into view.

View Full Album

As well as offering fabulous hot air balloon experiences from over 100 UK launch sites,  our new site offers a wealth of ballooning information… so if you don’t know your skirt from your envelope you can find out fast on our Ballooning Science pages and if you need to gen up on your knowledge of who flew the first hot air balloon then take a look at our Ballooning History pages.

With new Gift Extras to add to our balloon flights and a new online registration system to make booking flights even faster, the thrill of ballooning can begin even before our passengers take to the skies.

To find out more about our latest offers and to take a flight in a beautiful iconic red Virgin balloon visit www.virginballoonflights.co.uk where you can fly from just £89!

Comments (0)

By Kirsty, July 20, 2011 5:53 pm

On July 18^th, Nelson Mandela celebrated his 93rd birthday! An amazing accomplishment to add to many others in this great man’s life. To honour Mandela; Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite encouraged everyone within the Virgin group to take part in Mandela Day 2011 by giving 67 minutes of their time to their local community.

Excited by the scope of what we could do, everyone at Virgin Balloon Flights HQ got to work on planning an even bigger and better celebration than 2010’s Mandela Day.

Thinking caps on, we brainstormed about all the different ways we could give back to our community and here’s what we came up with:

· We baked and sold beautiful cupcakes raising money for local community projects.

· We collected boxes and bags of jumble items including clothes, shoes, toys, books and bric-a-brac and donated to The British Red Cross, Katherine House Hospice and Compton Hospice. We even managed to get Staffordshire based designer dress agency Hush to come on board and donate old stock to our clothes box donations.

· Senior Customer Service Representative Sophie Ellis helped out family member Rachel to take her two young twin boys, who were born prematurely, to a hydrotherapy pool for the afternoon as community swimming pools are too cold for them.

· We litter picked around our office and tidied up the surrounding green spaces helping to keep the area cleaner for people to enjoy.

· We donated soft toys, music cd’s and children’s clothes to a brand new sensory room at local nursery Earlyworld.

· We collected and sent out 18 board games, a PlayStation, a box of PlayStation and computer games and two bags of educational and fictional books to a local after school club for children aged between 4 and 14 years.

· We mowed our neighbours’ lawns and helped out with gardening.

· We volunteered at local community project Sanktuary giving late night clubbers a safe place to wait for taxi’s or friends (and even gave high heel clad feet a rest with free flip-flops!)

· We gave two local students, one at GCSE level and one at A Level, the opportunity to complete a week’s work experience within the customer service and marketing departments at the company HQ.

· Accounts assistant Cheryl helped to organise and complete a day within her church community called ‘Messy Church’ where children enjoyed a fun-filled activity day playing games and eating ice lollies!

· Customer Service Representative Ryan Laing became a fully-fledged Street Pastor and completed his first night about town, helping to battle the issue of homelessness and poverty giving strength and support to those who needed it.

· Staff donated £2 each for a handmade bracelet by 11-year-old cancer sufferer Harry Moseley through his charity Help Harry Help Others – a fantastic inspiration to us all.

· We even got CEO and Chief Pilot Kenneth to help sort out our donations, don’t worry he didn’t really pack away office pooch and company mascot, Cookie the Pomeranian.

Once again all the staff here at Virgin Balloon Flights have thoroughly enjoyed their efforts for Mandela Day this year. We hope that each little bit of help or support has collectively made a positive difference within our community and we take our hats off to the people who work so hard to improve the lives of others all year round.

Here’s to another superb effort for Mandela Day!

Comments (0)

By Kirsty, April 11, 2011 6:16 pm

As part of Virgin Balloon Flights on-going efforts to raise money for Hope House Children’s Hospices through Virgin Unite’s ‘Changing the Course Campaign’, one of our marketing execs Kirsty Mills treated us all to 24 hours of complete silence!

“This is honestly one of the hardest things I have ever had to do! You really don’t realise how much you need to make noise to communicate. Not  everything can be answered with a nod or shake of the head and no one seemed to understand my hand signals.”

“In the end I used a white board and a marker pen, and took it everywhere with me, it even came to the gym, McDonalds and Sainsbury’s!” she added.

Kirsty’s 24 hours of silence and awkward communication through office hours and everyday tasks, bagged the charity just over £400 and a step closer to a £7000 finish.

With still a few days remaining to donate you can help make a difference by visiting virginmoneygiving.com/kirstymills

Comments (0)

By Eve, March 15, 2011 6:20 pm

Virgin Balloon Flights’ fundraising efforts for Hope House Children’s Hospices continued with gusto this weekend when Eve from marketing took part in one of the UK’s toughest half marathons, the Ironbridge Half Marathon in Shropshire.

What started as a dull and rainy Sunday turned into glorious sunshine just in time for the starting gun to go off and for almost 500 runners to wend their way from Town Park in Telford into the stunning World Heritage Site of Ironbridge Gorge and back again. The course was reversed this year and included a killer hill at mile 8 which took a lot of runners by surprise. Despite this sadistic twist added by organisers Telford Harriers, you’d be hard pushed to find a race with better scenery or atmosphere so it’s definitely worth a go.

Eve crossing the finish line in much pain but in good cheer

This race was even harder than the full marathon I ran last year, but I had some great support from people who sponsored me for the race so there was no giving up! Hope House is a brilliant charity so it was an honour to be able to help raise much needed funds, – Eve

Next on the challenge list for Virgin Balloon Flights is a sky dive scheduled for April 9^th 2011 for a small group of customer service representatives so watch this space and good luck girls!

For your chance to win amazing prizes from across the Virgin group our big Virgin raffle tickets are still on sale – see our Charity Raffle page for all the info.

Comments (2)

By Eve, December 20, 2010 10:49 am

The 2010 hot air ballooning flying season drew to a close last month. But whilst you may not be able to spot our balloons in the sky, there are plenty to look at online. Here at Virgin Balloon Flights HQ, around this time of year it is time to don our judging caps and review the whole year’s worth of photos that have been shared with us online over the year by passengers and balloon spotters alike.

This year we had many that were of a very high standard and we thoroughly enjoyed looking at each and every entry.

From balloons being inflated, to passengers helping to pack away the balloon, to atmospheric mist on an early morning flight to the sun bursting from behind the clouds; we recommend a peruse at your leisure of the wonderful online collection.

But as with all competitions someone has to win. This year the photo deemed the winner by the majority was Jade Homer’s photo taken from Headcorn Aerodrome:-

Jade Homer's winning photo taken from Headcorn Aerodrome

Jade said:

I thought that this photo would be good to take because with sun setting in the background it looks nice and shows a nice spring afternoon.

I like taking pictures of something you don’t see every day. I often get down to Headcorn Aerodrome on a Sunday afternoon in the spring and summer… watching all the hot air balloons come and set up. I am amazed by how it is all put together… when you’re watching it fade away as it goes further and further away and you think ‘I wonder were that will end up landing’.

Out of all the places in the world to fly over in a hot air balloon, Jade thinks that the best place would definitely be Niagara Falls. We’re not sure we’d get a licence for that but agree it sounds pretty cool!

Congratulations and we hope you enjoy your prize of a Virgin Experience Days gift card.

To share your photos with us you can upload them to our Twitter page, our Facebook page or on YouTube.

You can find more information on our Competitions tab on our Facebook page.

Comments (0)

By Kirsty, August 25, 2010 4:07 pm

Based on her mother’s true story, Kay Mellor’s heartfelt play will be on stage at the Hull Truck Theatre from 10^th September to the 2^nd October 2010 and Virgin Balloon Flights are one of its proud supporters.

The play which was recently aired by the BBC and starred Sue Johnstone and Billie Piper ends with the lead character Betty riding off into the sunset in a hot air balloon.

A Passionate Woman tells the story of Betty, a middle aged mother and wife. Set on the day of her son’s wedding; she climbs into the loft to escape from all the arrangements and drops the flap shut! Betty has a secret that she has kept hidden for years; when she was younger she had a passionate love affair with a polish fairground worker. Now the spirit of her dead lover, Craze, comes to her on the roof and Betty relives her time all over again with him. Her son and husband meanwhile realise Betty’s whereabouts and try to woo her down to the all important wedding, but she’s not going anywhere except up!

Writer Kay Mellor entitled the play A Passionate Woman because she realised that’s exactly what her mother was. Kay has re-worked the play especially for Hull Truck and is delighted to be finally playing her mum (Betty) for the first time. The star studded cast for the performance also includes ‘Emmerdale’s’ Anthony Lewis, ‘Hollyoaks’’ Stuart Manning and Andrew Dunn from ‘Dinnerladies’.

Here at Virgin Balloon Flights we are giving all ‘A Passionate Woman’ spectators the chance to fly off into the sunset just like Betty. Simply take a flyer from the theatre after the performance which instructs you how to claim the flight voucher discount.

A Passionate Woman – Hull Truck Theatre, 10 September – 2 October 2010 Box Office 01482 323638

Up, up and away!