Articles

"Its a stonker – Sackville 2012 Excels":

“It’s the relaxed way its so unorganised but just seems to work which makes this so brilliant”, explained a first time visitor to the Ultramagic Grass Roots Meet on Saturday afternoon clutching a rather over-filled pork and stuffing (with a splash of apple and salad) roll fresh from the pig roast.
More... Having arrived Friday, flown, and flown again that morning they were clearly now chilling out. Well its nice it appears that way, maybe that is why it does work so well and is so popular. It is more like a family-come-social gathering for balloonists rather than a Balloon Meet. Whether you come with a balloon or not does not matter, everyone is made very welcome and this years’ event was no exception, numbers were bigger than ever but it was still relaxed and, put simply, brilliant fun.

The Grass Roots Meet is held at Sackville Lodge Airfield just North of Bedford, the brain-child of Rob Cross, it originally started a few years back with a very informal gathering at Cardington. Since then it has grown in popularity to become the biggest gathering of private balloonists in the country. There is no funfair, no pressure to fly, no press, no politics and no public to entertain. It is a social gathering for all those that have a love of ballooning and indeed a general love of flying, as demonstrated by Dave Boxall, designer of so many of the Special Shape Balloons, who turned up in his home-built aeroplane clocking up its 200th hour in the process. It did seem for a while that the Event would be cancelled following the decision of the British Balloon and Airship Club not to award a grant. Just as all seemed hopeless Richard Penney, who had recently taken over the Ultramagic dealership from the equally nice Tim Revel stepped in and saved the day, the event becoming the Ultramagic Grass Roots Meet. To add to the interest this year it was combined with the Model Balloonists’ Meet organised by Steve Cook and the balloon spotters came in force. The weather is always good thanks to a natty idea that rolls the event from one weekend to the next if the weather looks naff. This year the first choice weekend of the 8th and 9th September looked promising from a way out so the green light was given. The Met-man must have been working overtime and come the day the promised weather settled in bang on cue.

The meet opened officially on the Friday evening but in practice it opens from as early as the weather allows and people want to turn up. Accordingly they can leave whenever they want. Some choose to make a week of it. When I’d turned up there on the previous Thursday morning for a check-flight the campsite already had a spattering of tents and caravans, not least an enormous six-bedroomed Bedouin mansion of a thing that had taken four days to erect and was awaiting the arrival of the 40 member strong Team Chadwick. Tim Wilkinson, owner of the site and chief get-it-done-person, has now got some rather large bulk tanks in place so refuelling is never a problem at any time and the Airfield Club Hut has all the necessary facilities. This is the thing about The Grass Roots that makes it so attractive. The vast majority choose to camp or caravan, sleep in the marquee (once the bar eventually closes) or even crash out in the retrieve vehicle or trailer. Everything you need is there, breakfast at sparrow’s wotsits if you want, cold drinks, tea and coffee, general grub all day (and most of the night) and a good old-fashioned bar, all provided by Team Sackville. The NFU provided the marquee and a smaller one for the tea, coffee and snack bar is provided by Chiltern Region’s Barry Newman. Loads of people are just happy to do their bit.

Over eighty balloons and pilots booked in and more turned up on the off-chance over the course of the weekend. Friday night kicked off with a flurry of 34 balloons, Saturday saw a Metz-style line up down the runway of 72 balloons. We turned up early afternoon on Saturday and this time we brought along a couple of balloons, planned to stay the night and also decided to fly something rather than do check flights. Daughter Alice lent us her tent which turned up in an A4 padded envelope. Didn’t bode well. By the time we arrived the prime spots had long gone so we pitched up by the camp road. Well, laugh. This was the world’s smallest tent (without instructions). Having been fighting the small parcel for a quarter of an hour, watched by chuckling faces peering over adjoining tents, the kindly Jamie Edwards clearly couldn’t bear it any longer and casually wandered over, explained that we had it inside out, took over and had the waterproofed handkerchief up in a thrice. All we had to do now was figure out how to get the bedding in. Jamie was duly thanked but the proximity to the bogs meant the ambiance was not that great. This was were we scored though as we simply picked the whole lot up and carried it down the field to a fresher spot. It was a very small tent, even smaller than the one-man jobby nearby!

The afternoon was glorious and there were acres of trailers. Now I’d just had me annual ‘aircut and Scissorhands Fatz had done a serious bit of cropping this time round. Friends that I’ve known for years passed by. Dear old Mike Drye wandered past. “Hiya Mike”, I beamed proffering a hand. He stopped, looking a bit puzzled. “Blimey Chris, didn’t recognise you with no hair!” Good result, that’ll cut down the number of people wanting their logbooks updated with the EASA AD I reasoned! Briefing was at six. The weather declared fine and super. Alice along with Jamie her boyfriend and four year old grandson Charlie arrived. They’d come for the evening flight. I asked how she slept in the carrier bag of a tent. “Well sideways obviously dad”. She’s not much over five foot. The wind was warm and light out of the south. We decided to take them for a flight in G-BWEW the trusty old Unipart balloon which I haven’t flown for a while. It was great. We took off mid field, stayed low across the airfield then climbed gently up through the inversion to around 3500 feet young Charlie standing on a booster cushion and the envelope bag so he could see over the side. He was completely unphased and was soon spotting red cars, swimming pools, speeding motorbikes and passing aircraft. Eventually the A14 approached (A604 on Jane’s retrieve map!) and we headed down. Charlie spotted a fine Reynard dashing across a field yards from us, heron and hares. We went through 90º as we dropped lower and formed up line astern of a couple of balloons the nearest being Tim Horn in the Daf balloon, clearly heading for the same field. The left piled on and we popped back up for a moment to improve our chances. Charlie was stowed in the bottom of the basket. We brushed across the stubble settling gently down (that was a surprise!) until we met a deep tram-line and stopped. The top came out and we gently tipped over. Charlie was retrieved from the amongst the envelope bag and scrambled out. The sunset set was already starting to look spectacular and all around were combines, cultivators and grain trailers all being very busy, bright lights showing through the clouds of drifting dust.

The farmer was great. He was orchestrating three combines, balers and cultivators, a total of 14 bits of agricultural machinery spread over 7,000 acres that extended down to Grantham Water. He was originally from Granborough in North Bucks so we understood each other perfectly. His phone rang. One of the combines had got lost in a field and the grain trailer couldn’t find it. The sun had set and in the gathering darkness, despite a several thousand watt bank of lights the dust clouds were now making cutting nigh on impossible. It was also starting to get a bit damp slowing the combine down to a few kilometres an hour. It was probably time to call a halt before the student driving the grain trailer collided with the combine in the gloom. He shot off to the rescue promising to return. Keeping this bit very brief, Jane took quite a while to find us as the old maps didn’t actually show new roads like the A14 and she ended up in Peterborough as the exit off the AI was shut. Apparently we had agreed to follow Mr Usill in his beautiful Planet Earth balloon so that was what she followed unaware that we’d gone the other way at altitude. As promised he returned, kept guard with lights on in case a marauding cultivator came our way, and we discussed the various merits of tracked tractors, big header bars, crop yield and grain testing. Charlie, Jamie and Alice spotted satellites and shooting stars. Eventually Jane arrived on the road and was escorted across the prairie by our friendly farmer. She didn’t seem very amused but seeing Charlie’s broad grin soon sorted her out. “What was the best bit then Charlie?” she enquired. There was no hesitation in Charlie’s reply, “When the basket fell over.”

Whilst bidding our stalwart farmer farewell and thanking him for his help his phone rang again. It seemed the grain trailer, having performed a nearly perfect U-turn, which kicked up a huge dust cloud, had clipped the, by now, stationary invisible combine but, on the upside, the contractors had finished baling ahead of time. No damage done fortunately. He chuckled and headed due East, roof lights flashing, into the low dusty mist and darkness that was forming.

The rest of the evening involved mainly Jamie buying us drinks before Alice drove him and a sleeping Charlie home. Along with Rob Cross, Kevin Tanner and a couple of others we made sure the barrels were emptied and everyone got out of the beer tent and safely home. Eventually we struggled horizontally into the cocoon. Quite surprisingly it was very comfy even with the door unzipped as that is where our feet had to go.

Sunday morning arrived suddenly about stupid past four. Seems a couple of balloons decided to go for a night-flight so the plan of remaining comatose until just before six was gone. Somehow during the evening I had been asked to do a check flight for Jonathan Tyrell, one of the Neville Arms Syndicate, spookily the last balloon to land in our field the night before. I had intended to fly the hopper G-BSIG with the Cameron Millennium bottom end which had been brought along for Ed Lubbock to borrow for a school tether later in the week. Seemed that he was flying his balloon so we asked Sue Kidd if she wanted to have a go in it. She was off like a shot! Following the night befores’ shenanigans Jane offered to stay and help.

The Neville Arms balloon G-BSMK is a old Cameron O-84, the best shaped balloon Cameron ever made. By the time I’d finished me tea the Team had already headed down the runway and were now just one of 70 something balloons all being pulled out and inflated to beat the promised increase in wind speed. Dear old Tim W came up on his trusty quad-bike asking if I needed a lift so, perched on the rear carrier like a trusty sheepdog, we headed off to find them. Well posh. Jonathan was all quiet confidence and very thorough and in no time we were joining the early morning flotilla and climbing to 500 foot to check out the inversion and do an approach. The inversion proved to be, indeed, very low with a good speed higher up. The flight was truly lovely and Jonathan put us down nice and neatly right next to a track on the edge of an undersown field coping very well with the very strong inversion that was barely 150 foot up bringing us down to under five knots. Our trusty retrieve were on the road and the farmer was great just asking that we don’t drive on the field but turn round at the end of the track. We deflated down aforementioned track, Jonathan was pronounced a pilot and the rest of us packed away in traditional crew-like manner watched by another new pilot.

Meanwhile back at Sackville the hopper had been duly got out and interest quickly grew. Between the assembled throng it was all put together and it was decided that a tether would be a good idea. Well ten pilots later, including London Region’s Val Roberts, Jeff Roberts, other half who never gets to fly had all had a bob up and down. Eventually it ran out of fuel. Seems there may well be some candidates for a cloudhopper in the not too far distant future!

As eleven o’clock approached the marquee started to fill for the prize-giving. Mike Gunston was thanked for his tether school session getting around a dozen PUTs signed off, Richard Penney and Paul Dickinson for their and Ultramagic’s support without which the Meet almost certainly wouldn’t have happened this year. Paul Dickinson’s new ‘Freespirit’ trophy was shared by the youngest pilots at the Meet, Tom Gouder and Phil Hooper both from Bristol. Two pilots managed to get checked out this year. Apart from Jonathan Tyrell, John Hilditch’s son Tom passed his GFT with BBAC Training Officer hero Dave Court on Saturday evening then did his solo on Sunday morning so got the Biggleswade Trophy. Amongst the competition winners was one David Usill who had adamantly stated that his days of competition flying were over as it had all got too complicated, however, discovering that a proper Hare and Hounds was to be run he couldn’t resist and demonstrated that there was still a place for flying without a SatNav and computer. That’ll be a tenner won then! Finally huge thanks went to Tim and his family for all their hard work, Rob Cross, Stumpy and Peter Gray for sorting everyone out. Chatting to Nick Purvis outside the marquee afterwards it transpired that another four year old went flying on Saturday night. Nick Purvis and that stranger to the outside world, Cameron’s Quality Manager Craig Moore, were there with G-CHVV, the Cameron Z-90 Demonstrator built at the Bristol Fiesta, and took Ellie, the daughter of Matthew Freeman, one of their clients, for a flight, so they shared the Ultramagic stickers. As forecast, by midday, the wind was pretty impressive so it was pack up time. Here-in lay the benefit of micro-tent. We folded it up and stuffed it in the back of car. Two minutes, then watched the behemoths being stripped out, dismantled and packed away. Payback grinning time.

I have to say that when it became clear that there would be no funding from the British Balloon & Airship Club for this years event I did have a hint of a concern that the essence of the meet may have been a bit clodded up by having a major sponsor but come the day Richard Penney and Ultramagic were absolutely top banana. Richard’s Ultramagic Demonstrator was lent for the tether school and his Techno was there for all to have a look and poke about at. Despite their sponsorship Ultramagic remained very low profile, really just simply being one of the gang. No stand, no hard-sell but engaging with everyone from the balloon spotters to the pilots. They were fantastic and added to the Meet in every way, even donating the prizes for the various proper straightforward competitions. The Grass Roots Ballooning movement is extremely grateful to them for their support and it seems that they will be back next year. This then was a truly brilliant Meet and enjoyed by all. Personally, for us? Next year we are going to get a bigger tent.

The hard facts. 104 balloons attended with 90 free flying. There were 24 Instructors, 4 Examiners and many Pu/ts. 2 Check Outs (both successful), 2 Solos, 2 Recommendations, 2 revalidations, 11 Tether sign offs. Figures for the three days. Friday am 2, Friday pm 34, Saturday am 72, Saturday pm 73 and Sunday am 57. Total flights 239. Not bad.

"Grass Roots 2011":

After three roll-overs Rob Cross and team finally announced that the world renowned Grass Roots Meet, at the delightful Sackville Lodge airfield near Riseley just north of Bedford, a go-go for the weekend of the 1st and 2nd October.More...This was deemed cutting it a bit fine by some but any misgivings were quickly dispelled when the dear old metman promised a fine weekend. Even Friday looked good so no setting up camp in the rain!!

This is ‘The other Icicle Meet’ and with no red tape, great food, great socialising and flying in a well-friendly area, it shouldn’t be missed. Its what ballooning is all about. Now I always intend to take a balloon to the event but I always manage to get booked up for check flights of one sort or another so it is probably never going to happen and this year was no different. I’d promised I'd do a check flight over in Lincolnshire on the Friday night so was going to miss the first slot. Saturday morning was a PPL check flight with the slots on Saturday evening and Sunday morning reserved for other thingys!
The flight in Lincolnshire was a CPL for Chris Freeman. After a valiant tether we flew from Little Bytham, landing heroically in Kelsby some 40 minutes later. Now to the less well educated Little Bytham sports a fine viaduct (under which Chris lives) which carries the East Coast Mainline and is where the Mallard hit 126mph in 1938, still the official record for a steam train. There was once pub in the village called The Mallard but that sadly closed but to my joy the Willoughby Arms, just down the road, which was once the terminus building of the Edenham and Little Bytham Railway, was open so all was well, especially with Absolution ale at a respectable 5.3%! With all that steam stuff going on, and the fact we nigh on flew over the trackside memorial to the event, he passed.
Now driving is not my forte unless there is little or nothing else on the road so Jane had already had to chauffeur me up and down the A1 on Friday and so, as she seemed to handle that quite well, come Saturday morning, was summoned by the alarm to provide a similar service to Sackville. Now the victim for the PPL check flight was Adam Griffiths who hadn’t got off to a good start by suggesting that briefing was at six o’clock when in fact it was at quarter to seven! Tea and a fine bacon sandwich (with onions) helped the shock of being early. Conditions were near perfect and Adam took me for a fine flight in G-BEEI, one of the oldest balloons I have done a check flight in. Spotting a landing strip just outside Keyston, Adam made a fine approach but was thwarted at the last by a small noisy aeroplane that decided to take off just as we were on finals. Adam courteously plopped us down in the plough just before the strip and we dragged a short way to the airfield track. All was well and another PPL check out to Sackville!
Back at Sackville Jane had returned from walking the dogs so we did a tour of the campsite meeting up with old friends and getting a very fine cuppa from with the Symonds, who have finally decided to sell their lovely little balloon and retire from ballooning and concentrate on their Triumph TR6. Lunch followed and was a fine affair with a large lump of pig roast, something my dog showed intense interest in!
Before we knew it the evening briefing was upon us and Gavin the Chadders was ushering me towards a 140, large by Sackville standards! This was a flight to add Group ‘B’ to his commercial licence, I was told. We launched in a fine old manner. Approaches, emergencies and all the general passenger flying exercises were completed well and following the most impressive descent and landing in an old ridge and furrowed field, already occupied by Barry Newman and company, that many a crusty balloonist would have been proud to have achieved, he was pronounced fit for purpose. It was decided the debrief would be best carried out in the comfort of the bar at Sackville so, after collecting Chadders senior and his one-man basket from a field in the middle of nowhere, the course was set for home. I do feel that the route back may not have been that direct as there appeared to be some confusion between the Tomtits and iPhones that had been turned on by the Chadwicks in general to help guide us back.
Back at Sackville…..Jane had at some stage met up with Celia Kunert shortly after our departure and as a result was well down her eleventeenth vodka and tonic. The dogs were patrolling plates of grub and the beer was fast running out. We had to get back that evening as Jane was due to take five horses to a Show in the morning so her remains were poured into the car and we bade a fond farewell until the morning. Why on earth Bedford does not have an East West ring road defeats me but I only managed to go wrong once in the one way system going back. The dogs were comatose in the back.
Five o’clock Sunday morning and Barry Conway turned up as arranged and we set off back to Sackville. Barry used to run the Unipart Balloon Club so the early start didn’t seem to phase him. Once again I took a wrong turn in Bedford but soon recovered after nipping smartly the wrong way down a one way street.
I was going to be doing a Base and Line check with Dave Court (the hard working, long suffering BBAC Training Officer) in the 140 which Gavin kindly lent us. The Loughborough boys had a space in their shiny new balloon and very kindly offered Barry a flight so Dave, Andy Kaye, his daughter Chloe and I wobbled off into the sky. The 140 was a bit wheezy so flying light was a bonus! This time we headed out a bit more to the right of the evening’s track and had a lovely flight landing next to Barry Newman (again) just short of the A604. The farmer was there to greet us and Andy arranged to take him and his kids for a flight in his plane in the afternoon. All was fine.
Back at Sackville………..The mandatory tea and bacon sandwiches were consumed and we set about completing even more paperwork. Barry returned all beaming smiles and the closing ceremony begun. Dave Court had checked out Alex Daniels, did a Group B Base and Line check for Ben Pettitt and a Group B initial for Andy Kaye. I managed the same sort of thing but the star of the show was Mike Gunston who had amazingly got at least half a dozen PUTs through their tether training and, providing the wind dropped a bit, was set to do a few more in the afternoon. Big thanks were made to the organisers and helpers and Barry C and I headed for a spicy burger which didn’t disappoint.
To avoid getting lost in the intricacies of Bedford we decided to go home via Northampton and pay a visit to a friend of ours who has a lakeside palace on Billing Aquadrome where we enjoyed the warm afternoon sun and a couple of beers and automatic fishing.
As always The Grass Roots Meet had turned up trumps. A huge thanks to Tim Wilkinson and his family for all their hard work and for providing such an inspiring venue, Rob Cross for his boundless enthusiasm for the event and Peter Gray for generally sorting everyone out. This year special thanks have to go to Barry Newman whose Met forecasts were to everyone’s taste and was always there when we landed! If you have never been to the Grass Roots then I can’t recommend it enough. Roll on 2012.
As a postscript, my neighbour, who is a fount of knowledge on airfields, told me that during the World War II the US Airforce set up Riseley Camp, a base for filling and storing bombs for the surrounding airfields. This was between Riseley and Melchbourne House and was served by the road that now takes you up to Sackville Lodge which is actually the southern drive to Melchbourne House, hence the grand gatehouse entrance. This probably explains the existence of some very military looking huts, roads and concrete bases dotted about the immediate area which are clearly visible as you float out. Rather forebodingly, Coppice Wood, which most flew over was a dump for mustard gas canisters. There was a scandal in the late nineties when it was revealed that the clean up of the woods in 1988 was not entirely successful! So next year we’ll have to have a good potter round.

"Grass Roots 2011":

It was with great excitement that after the Grass Roots meets of the previous three years we started planning for this year's event. 'Team Sackville' starts planning the event as soon as the previous one has ended.More... Although the format of the event is the same each year, the reality of how each event pans out is always slightly different. Grass Roots is partly about going back to basics, with lots of balloon teams gathering for a big flyout without all the pressures of large commercial meets.

It has now become a well established event and we have found our home at Sackville Lodge airfield near Bedford. Tim Wilkinson and his family host the event and go to great lengths to ensure everyone is looked after and has a good time. The event is held in late summer so that there are plenty of landing opportunities in the cut fields.
Unlike most meets, part of our philosophy is that we will 'roll' the event so that if the weather is wholly unsuitable on the initial planned weekend we will roll it until we have a weekend where flying slots are available. This is possible through the flexibility that Tim has developed with local suppliers. He also allows everyone to camp on site so there is a very communal spirit and participants don't have to splash out on expensive accommodation. We invite local farmers to fly from the event in an effort to strengthen our relationship with the local farming community. Thanks to this age of email we provide all balloonists on our mailing list with 48 hours notice as to whether the event is on or not.

Planning includes looking at the challenges we had at previous events and how we can make it better next time. There is lots to sort out including catering, gas, camping, airfield layout, toilets, showers, bar, liaising with CAA and neighbouring airfields, marquee from the NFU, grant from the BBAC, pilot emailing and registration, met forecast, risk assessments, liaising with emergency services and of course what happens if the weather makes all the plans go wrong. All of this is done with a small team of Tim, Peter Gray, Mark Stelling and myself. We are grateful to Barry Newman who acted as this year's safety officer.

This year we once again approached the BBAC for a grant of £1000 to help us with the costs of running the event. This involves making a presentation to the Main Committee at the May meeting in Stratford. Other parties who are also making a grant request make their pitches. Each pitch is typically followed by an interrogation (questions) from the Committee which we all try to respond to appropriately, after which we are asked to leave the meeting whilst the Committee discusses the merits and deservedness of each plea. On re-entering the meeting I was told that our grant request would be met in full which was clearly a great outcome for us. Once again through these pages Team Sackville thanks the BBAC for its continued support.

The continued support of the NFU should not go unmentioned. They provide the use of a marquee free of charge. All they ask is for two day’s notice and they bring the marquee to Sackville and erect it. With regard to gas, last year's winter pushed up the price to 60p on the basic price. After many phone calls from Tim, BP stepped in and would supply a tanker to fill on the Saturday of the meet, plus they would supply up to five checkouts with their gas to a maximum of 100 litres each. Tim purchased an extra 4000 litre tank and another 2000 litre tank with meters - gas sorted!

This year’s summer weather was not brilliant. Many events were hit by bad weather. As our first weekend of 9-11 September approached we started to get both restless and excited. We were aware that nearly 90 balloon teams had expressed their intention to come to Sackville. As we monitored the weather we had a very easy call. On the other side of the Atlantic the hurricane season had been in full swing and the remnants of these hurricanes were hitting the UK thanks to the position of the jetstream. So with perfect timing the ex-hurricane Katia swept across the UK. The winds were not hurricane force but the forecast winds were strong enough to pretty much guarantee that no balloons would fly, so we easily decided to postpone the event.
It’s always easy when it’s clear that the weather is going to be truly awful, but the most agonising decisions are when it looks marginal – do we, don’t we? Many attendees have stated that they would come anyway regardless of the weather because they like the social element, but we really want the event to include flying balloons.

We also postponed the following weekend due to another forecast of poor conditions. The third weekend was not possible due to Tim having to work in Ireland. Eventually we opted for the first weekend in October as a huge blocking high was forecast over eastern Europe creating light winds over England. We also experienced a brief ‘Indian summer’ with temperatures hitting the high-twenties Celsius.
The only downside to postponing is that we lose some of the original attendees and there are fewer fields in which to land. However there were still over fifty balloon teams in attendance. On the Friday afternoon slot Rob Bayly kindly gave me a ride in his balloon. During the course of the weekend the wind speed and direction in the first three slots landed us in the same area and some very patient farmers kept good humour. It is fairly rare that the wind speed and direction remain constant at a balloon meet over three consecutive slots, but on the fourth slot we went on a more southerly track.

We always encourage PUTs and training at Sackville. This year was no exception. There were many PUT flights. In previous years there has always been a check out flight at the event. This year was much better with the following achieved:

Adam Griffiths did recommendation (with Andy Kaye), GFT (Chris Dunkley) and solo (Ian Chadwick).
Alex Daniels did recommendation (Jon Dyer) GFT (Dave Court) solo (Jon).
Ben Pettitt and Dave Court did their Group B Certificate of Test and Base / Line Check, with examiners Dave Court and Chris respectively.
Gavin Chadwick and Andy Kaye did their Group B initial Type Rating with Chris and Dave respectively.

Congratulations to all of you.

We are aware that the following PUT flights occurred:
Steve Cook – two flights, one with Mike Gunston.
Matthew Jemmett with Ian Warrington.
Caroline Jemmett with Rob Jemmett.
Gareth Bufton with John Sproat.
Alex Court with John Russon.
Robert Lovell with Barry Newman and Martin Lovell.
Stephen O'Boyle with Sue Kidd and Ed Lubbock.
Jonathan Walton instructor flight with Mike Gunston.

Mike Gunston kindly ran tether school which enabled a number of PUTs to have this element of their training signed off.

Geoffrey Walton did exceptionally well by flying a farmer's wife and two children on the Friday afternoon, then another farmer and two children on Saturday morning, followed by yet another farmer and wife on the Saturday afternoon, this time landing on his farm!

Throughout the weekend the social hub of the meet was the NFU marquee, with Tim, wife Angie and family continually cooking great food for everyone. The hog roast made its customary appearance.

After flying on the Sunday morning we held the prize-giving. Adam and Alex were recognised for their checkouts. Chris Dunkley was also given a bottle of whiskey in recognition of his ongoing support and all the recent work he had done in the non-lifing legislation of balloon tanks. Mike Gunston received a prize for running another tether school and Angie and the girls were recognised for all their hard work.

So what did all this work achieve? Fifty-plus balloons turned up to accomplish approximately 150 flights. Various checkouts were done and we had a successful tether school. There were no landowner issues of note, and probably, most importantly of all, we very much hope that everyone had a great time. As the saying goes you only get out of it what you put in. Everyone put a lot into Grass Roots, and we believe everyone got a lot out of it. As far as Team Sackville is concerned seeing so many enjoying themselves is a great reward in itself.

We thank everyone for coming – without you there would be no event. We also thank everyone that made it possible.

We look forward to Grass Roots 2012 which is scheduled for 7-9 September – put it in your diaries!

"How Grass Roots Came About"