HEADLEY PARK, BORDON
Sunday 10 July 2005

This meeting of the RREC was something new for our Section events calendar but turned out to be a bit of a damp squib. The weather on the day seemed to be perfect, warm, sunny and no wind to speak of, for a hot air balloon festival. Over fifty members in twenty-two cars assembled on the lawn of the Headley Park Hotel, near Bordon in Hampshire, hoping to see the giant balloons taking off from the field 200 yards below us. It wasn't until four o'clock before we saw an attempt at launching a static display, which proved to be rather unsatisfactory because of gusts of wind making the preparation tricky. We were told that the launch of the other balloons would not take place until early evening so everyone went home except Derek and Jenny Johnson who watched, and were most impressed by the launching, with some of the baskets holding up to ten people. Six balloons were eventually launched.

The lunch arrangements in the hotel for those who had not brought a picnic, I am sorry to say, were to be compared to 'Fawlty Towers'. They didn't seem to have a clue! If we ever do it again it will have to be an evening meeting so our members can see what Derek described to me as 'spectacular'.

Tony Leach - Section Chairman