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Elephant Meet - 31st July 2004
Shavington, Cheshire
Great weather all weekend...
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After what seemed like months of preparation, July 31st was suddenly
upon us and with it, the "Elephant Meet". This was the big
event of the Summer the organising of which had occupied so much of
our free time for Myself, John Russon, Steve and Neil.
It was mainly because of John’s Knowledge and experience and
all his contacts, that we had been able to get everything ready in
time.
Lots of secret meetings in the Church Inn every Tuesday ,with some
of the locals thinking we were law enforcement officers,,(we soon
dispelled that myth) till we explained we were Hot Air Balloon Pilots
, Having seen the amount of alcohol we consumed I think we put most
of them off wanting to ever fly with us.!
There was even a suggestion that the meetings were just an excuse
to drink…. Never!
It would actually have been quite good if we could have used the
field next to the Church inn for the event, but somehow I don’t
think the airport would have liked it… it was at the bottom of
the runway!
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So the venue for our event was to be the Elephant pub at Shavington
near Nantwich, hence the name the Elephant meet. Local’s and regulars
in the area and at the pub were used to seeing balloons taking off,
but what would they think to a balloon event being staged there with
all the associated, tents, trailers, cars etc, and in quite a confined
space.
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The crowds in the pub started to gather as whispers that an
aerobatic display by Martin was maybe going to happen, he had
us all waiting for a while but it was well worth the wait.
Martin roared up the engine and took off, I have seen some aerial
antics in my time but when Martin put his display on it was
fantastic. Part of the display was to hook a traffic cone on
to one of the skids and with this securely fixed do some dives
and turns without the cone getting dislodged he finalised the
show by placing the cone upright on the ground where it had
started from and making the helicopter bow to the crowd before
landing… Excellent.
Now it was the turn of the Balloonist,s, the met report showed
it a bit fast for some, but I was not going to be outdone, first
to launch in Hollybush G-STOK, and heading in a direction South,
followed by s few brave souls, including John Russon
I flew for over an hour and covered some 16 Nautical miles landing
well in to the next O/S map it seemed to take ages to get back
to the Elephant pub. After refuelling it was off to the bar
for some socialising and stories of stand up landings! (not)…so
far so good, seemed like everybody was enjoying themselves
We had set some fun competitions lined up for the weekend but
these were due to start on Saturday (Pity I think I would have
got the longest distance!)
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Splash and dash caught on camera - at Nantwich Sailing Club -
last visited in a Solo dinghy for an Open Meeting in about 1994!
[JH]
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Saturday am Briefing and the weather forecast was too good
to be true, same direction again, 5-7 knots, outlook good.
The comp for this morning was whoever landed the furthest distance
on map 118. Once everyone had launched It was quite a sight
to see all the Balloons floating over the pub and heading South.
I flew as P1 for Martin Axtell in Horace G-HOTI , A nice gentle
flight over some lovely scenic countryside , Martins flying
is coming on well and it gave me time to look around and admire
the view. Martin landed Horace in the same field as Bill and
Austin in Mojo G-WDEB .
Thinking that we were the nearest to the corner of the map,
we came back with big grins on our faces only to find out that
Karla had put the Aspen Balloon on the very edge of 118 He must
have had a really precise GPS system.
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The next thing on the agenda was refuelling and then
a well earned breakfast.
John having organised with Mike Webb of Lindstrand Balloons for
a tour round the factory, most of us trundled down to Oswestry in
the afternoon.
When we got back the weather was scorching, and the pub was bursting
at the seams, news travels fast and there was even more people who
had turned up to watch the evening launch, than there had been the
previous night. Richard, our crowd control officer was kept busy,
although he still found time for some liquid refreshment!!
The evening briefing was favourable but there was a slight chance
of a sea breeze moving in, so we decided on another briefing at
7pm.
Most of the Balloons had rigged up ready so it was just a case of
the all clear being given,
The launch arena was buzzing with activity as the familiar sound
of the inflation fans were humming and Envelopes were filling with
cold air |
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I was flying Holly bush this evening and my two eager passengers
were Ian’s brother Chaz and his number two sister-in-law
(don’t ask). Both thoroughly enjoyed the flight and never
stopped talking throughout. a bit hard on the concentration
but it was most enjoyable.
The comp for this evenings flight was the Balloon that lands
nearest to the secret bunker, but as we flew in the same direction
as previously we were heading away from it all the time The
winner of this competition, to his amazement was Chris Heptonstall.
We packed Hollybush away and all headed back to the Elephant
for another evening of tall stories and a well earned drink
or two or maybe three?
Sunday morning and it looked like being another good one, the
direction beings totally different than on the previous days,
this time it was a southerly 2 –5 knots.
The comp for today was a Hare and Hounds, but with a bit of
a twist. John or myself were to be the Hare but we did not specify
which Balloon
I flew with Martin Axtell but this time in Digby G-BJZA, my
brother Martin flew with Emma in Hollybush and John was in G-BUDK
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That confused everybody, all the Balloons flew and
everyone looked as if they were following John or Martin .Meanwhile
Martin axtell and I were enjoying our flight in Digby .
Digby handled well for a 22 year old, even though it had not been
flown for some 9 years. We had to put more frequent burns in to
keep aloft, but we flew for a good 75 minutes. There was lots of
chatter on the airband, with a few pilots trying to establish who
the Hare was.
Our cunning plan nearly worked, but a few keen pilots had sussed
us out and spotted me in Digby and realised that I was the Hare.
Time to land, I spotted a nice field ahead, Phil Travis in Jigsaw
G-LEGO had already landed there, so not wanting to miss a good spot
Martin gently brought Digby in for a nice gentle landing not far
from Phil.
I think Phil thought he was in for a prize until Gavin and Ian Chadwick
in Wanderer G-BWAN arrived and squeezed in between us!!
We all packed away for the last time and then headed back to the
Elephant.
The prize giving and farewell was at lunchtime, so it gave everyone
time to prepare for going home. Tony Simmons particularly had a
long journey as he had to travel all the way back to Essex. |
The weekend was fantastic, we couldn’t have hoped for better weather
conditions, not to mention four flyable slots.
Everyone who came said it was one of the best meetings they had been
to for a long time, it was basic ballooning like it used to be, with
a group of friends all in it for the fun of it.
The prizegiving went very well with some fabulous trophies to be awarded,
including a model Elephant on a plaque with an engraving ELEPHANT MEET
2004 which I am sure all the winners would give pride of place to when
they got home!!
Each pilot also went home with a bottle of Elephant wine!!
The Meet could not have succeeded without the Balloon Teams who turned
up, so a big thank you to you all
We have been asked if we are planning another Elephant meet in 2005,
but with a lot of uncertainties around the pub, and who will be running
it in the future, we will have to keep you posted.
Finally I must thank everyone on our team who put a lot in to organising
the event John Russon the main man, Steve Wass in charge of competitions,
Neil Hepworth the camp director, Martin Read who dealt with refuelling,
Judy Wetters for the Social side of things and Lisa Russon ( for when
John was missing)
Me, I was pub liaison officer (it was a tough job but someone had to
do it!!)
Cheers
Trevor Read.
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Neil was in charge of camping arrangements, everything had to be carefully
coordinated on both the campsite and launch field, as space was limited.
We did however have another paddock available to us across the road
from the pub, if it got too congested on our site, and a larger alternate
launchsite further to the south just in case the wind direction was
a Southerly and a bit fast .
In the week leading up to the meet everything was going to plan, and
all we needed now was fine weather.
Friday came and so did a promising met report. The Balloon Teams started
arriving, also Martin Lovell in his Hughes 500 Helicopter
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