Betfair, Bookpeople And Michelin At The Tavistock Fiesta

Exclusive Ballooning had a strong presence at the Westcountry Balloon Fiesta this weekend.

Betfair, Bookpeople and the Michelin Bibendum Special Shape and all our far south west crew were at the ‘Friendly Fiesta' to support the big charity fundraising event in Tavistock.

It is one of our favourite events in the UK calendar, but, for the first time in its 20 year history, it was hit with high winds and occasional tropical rainfall. Despite this, over 40 flights were achieved in bright skies and organisers were pleased to have the Exclusive crew on hand to undertake safe tethering and displays. All our equipment remained clean, secure and dry!

G-CFUX, Betfair 2, took centre stage in the arena as the only balloon tethered on Friday. It was also the last out of the evening mass launch for an eager crowd, photographers, film crew and BBC HD, who got a double chance of filming as Exclusive pilot Mark Warne landed it perfectly back in the empty launch arena - to win a bet.

The Exclusive Team set up an educational basket and equipment interaction in the open public area, where Bookpeople was cold exhibited for children to see what a balloon was made of and felt like.

Our 170' tall Michelin Man special shape was also present, but with unseasonable high winds, he chose to sit back and watch proceedings over the weekend.

Despite poor weather on the Sunday, (where G-BOSB, one of our former private balloons, was the only balloon in the arena between showers), the organisers hope to have raised good sums for local and national charities. We are happy to have supported the event once again and wish them good luck for the future.

Pictures: Bex Johnston, Laura Maddock, Ian Mills and Harold Frise.