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By Eve, April 14, 2011 3:57 pm

Not unaccustomed to all-time firsts, several members of staff from across the Virgin group will be coming together on Monday 18^th April 2011 under one very groovy roof to take part in the first ever Virgin Social Marathon, the very day after the Virgin London Marathon.

With a view to raising awareness of all of our social channels, to give people a chance to win some amazing Virgin lifestyle prizes, to get a trend going on Twitter and to give everyone a chance to participate in shaping how we do things here at Virgin, we will be Tweeting and Facebooking for 8 hours from the very funky Virgin Media Our House in Soho, London.

We’re all very excited about the forthcoming social media day and look forward to working together to create and inspire some fresh ideas. We’re looking to fans and followers to suggest new entrepreneurial ideas so get your thinking caps on…

To find out what prizes are on offer and how you can be a part of this social first take a look at the social marathon blog on Virgin.com.

We look forward to seeing you online on Monday 18th, watch these spaces closely…

http://twitter.com/VirginBalloons

http://www.facebook.com/virginballoonflights

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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.

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By Eve, May 13, 2010 1:35 pm

As we (just about) turn the corner in to summer, Virgin Balloon Flights shares the skies over our fair isle with a number of different air shows – and East Anglia in particular has a great number to choose from.

The Imperial War Museum at Duxford has no less than 7 different air shows ranging from Battle of Britain to Large Model aircrafts. Southend-on-Sea will also be hosting its 25th free air show over two days on 30 and 31 May.  The display takes place along 2 miles of seafront and over 40 aircraft will be on display. The Clacton air show, whilst not as large as Southend, is held on the Thursday and Friday prior to the August bank holiday and the pier allows superb views of the displays.

Taking a photo from the basket

If you’ve ever thought about taking to the skies but the roar of a jet engine isn’t quite your thing, perhaps a hot air balloon ride might be a more sedate option? To learn more about what you can expect from a balloon ride over Essex visit the Essex Tourist Guide website.  We’ve got several launch sites to choose from in Essex, so why not make a day of it: check out some of the other activities available in the area on the Essex Tourist Guide site, for an action packed day in this picturesque county.

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By Alex, April 20, 2010 3:51 pm

Just four days to go until the first Virgin London Marathon on Sunday and we can’t wait to get two lovely new Virgin hot air balloons out and start supporting all of the brave runners!

We’re tethering one of our balloons plus Virgin Money’s balloon at the start line of the marathon and one person we’ll be especially looking out for will be Virgin.com’s very own Bob Fear.

First glimpse of our new 77-size Virgin balloon called G-VBFW which will be tethered at the London Marathon

Bob is one of 100 Virgin runners who are running the marathon with Sir Richard Branson and this year, as part of our annual charity effort, we have decided to support Bob in his fundraising by dontating two pairs of our champagne balloon flights to be autioned on eBay.

All proceeds will go to Virgin Unite the non-profit foundation of the Virgin Group.  They’re all about connecting people to tackle tough social and environmental issues, using the Virgin Group’s entrepreneurial skills and energy.

A hot air balloon ride with us at Virgin Balloon Flights is a genuinely unique experience as no two balloon flights are ever the same. We’re the UK’s largest passenger carrying balloon company offering unforgettable airborne adventures and here’s your chance to win a pair of flights worth £198 each for a great charity at an amazing price.

But be quick as these lots end on Thursday (22 Apr, 2010 13:00:34 BST)

Virgin Balloon Flights Virgin Unite Auction 1

Virgin Balloon Flights Virgin Unite Auction 2

Good luck and don’t forget to look out for our hot air balloons at the marathon on television from early on Sunday morning.

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By Eve, April 16, 2010 2:46 pm

As aircraft go, there aren’t many that rival the serenity and sheer spectacle of a hot air balloon.  Travelling some 30,000ft lower than your average civilian aircraft our passengers have been getting airborne from several of our launch sites across the UK this week amidst more lovely spring sunshine.

If you’ve ever spotted a hot air balloon peacefully wending its way above the beautiful British countryside have you ever wondered what keeps a balloon up in the first place? Well, the gas that generates ‘lift off’ in one of our big red Virgin balloons is propane. Once the balloon envelope’s been inflated with air that air is then heated with propane burners. The gas’s (now hot air) molecular behaviour alters making it less dense. This makes the air inside the balloon lighter than the air that surrounds it outside which enables the balloon to counteract the laws of gravity in what is known as The Gas Law; basic thermodynamics.

To learn more about how hot air balloons work why not build your own balloon? We don’t recommend this for unsupervised children or anyone wanting a half decent aerial view whilst on their hot air balloon ride.  For this we’d refer you to one of our excellent balloon pilots.  Chocks away!