Archive for December, 2008

January 2009 will bring a first for Lots of Hot Air. A fully functioning, state of the art e-Commerce function within the website.

This will be used to sell Pins, T-Shirts, Fleeces and many other Lots of Hot Air Goodies!!

The first week of 2009 brings the first Balloon Meet of the year at Warren Farm, Wiltshire.

The 37th Annual International Icicle Balloon Meet will take place on the 3rd and 4th January 2009 at Warren Farm, Savernake Forest, Marlborough, Wilts SN8 3BQ (Map 174/246653).

Lots of Hot Air will be attending the event, should the weather be kind to us over the weekend, we hope to post pictures and perhaps even a few videos from the event!

Keep an eye on the website during the weekend of the 3rd & 4th to see the pictures we upload.

Lots of Hot Air is pleased to announce the addition of G-ONCL to its fleet of exisitng aircraft.

The Thunder and Colt 77A, built in 1990 is owned and flown by Bristol based Pilot Tom Gouder.   This addition to the fleet shows Lots of Hot Air’s expansion into the UKs largest ballooning community… Bristol.

To find out more information about G-ONCL please click here.

But after months of number-crunching at the Guildhall, the authority last night confirmed the event lost £177,000, a massive £102,000 more than expected.

The bill has left planning for next year’s event up in the air, with the leader of the authority, Councillor Tony Woods (Lib Dem, St Davids) admitting he cannot guarantee whether it will go ahead or not.

He said: “We’re going to have to review everything, so I’m not saying it definitely will be held, I’m not saying it won’t and I’m not saying it will be exactly the same as it was.

“But we will make sure anything we do put on will be good value and a good day’s entertainment.”

The council leader said unexpected costs, such as a rain-soaked Racecourse venue, helped add to the festival’s overspend.

He also said the event, which should celebrate its 20th anniversary next year, could be radically changed if it is held in 2009.

Possible changes could include moving some events to other parts of the town, including options such as the Market Square.

He said: “One of the major problems is, it costs nearly £360,000 before we even put anything on, that’s just for setting up a showground.

“So we need to look at how we can change what we’re doing to reduce costs. If we can do that then we can have a more successful event,” he added.

The Balloon Festival last year lost taxpayers a total of £160,000. At the time, the loss was believed to be the biggest in the event’s history.

Last year’s loss was announced after the council introduced a controversial £4 entrance charge to the event for the first time.

It also came after the event was blighted by bad weather, in contrast to this year’s event which saw surprisingly good weather and included a number of popular pop acts, including singer Rick Astley.