The Bristol International Balloon Fiesta Dinner took place in the south west earlier this month at a unique venue.

Andy Ling from our Product Team (which source all of our great experiences and look after supply partners) was bursting to go along – and the night certainly didn’t disappoint.

Andy and unknown in balloon 650 x 300 — Andy Ling of Red Letter Days and Clive Bailey of Bailey Balloons toast the evening

Andy paints a picture of the evening “An evening in June saw this year’s Club 100 Gala Dinner, a gathering of all corporate sponsors of the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta.

It’s Red Letter Days’ first year of sponsorship and I went along to represent the company and support our developing involvement in the world of hot air ballooning.

Getting ready for hot air balloon rides — Red Letter Days hot air balloon in the factory, nearly completed and ready to fly

Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, held every August, is a four day event attracting 500 thousand visitors and enthusiasts from across the globe. Over 100 hot air balloons of all shapes and sizes help make it one of the UK’s top five outdoor events, as well as the largest of its kind in Europe.

Hats off to the events team who pulled off an imaginative transformation of space to create a great dining venue within an area of Cameroon Balloons’ actual balloon factory. Thanks go to Hannah from Cameron Balloons for giving us a pictorial inside scoop. Magically the factory floor went from this…

to this…

to this!

It was great fun and very fitting to be surrounded by wicker baskets (in the very factory responsible for making almost every hot air balloon in Europe) while dining.

I sat with Clive Bailey and his wife Jo of Bailey Balloons. They fly over Bath and Bristol with one of our brand new Red Letter Days branded balloons. Clive compares the dinner each year and in his usual gregarious style, he kept the audience well entertained.

The highlight of the evening is always the announcement of which sponsor has won the title sponsorship for the year. Corporate and marketing benefits include having the annual dining event named after the winning company!

Clearly, despite being a great bunch on the night with some well-known companies represented, there was no-one more fitting to deserve the prize than yours truly. Sadly, it just wasn’t to be The Red Letter Days International Balloon Fiesta this year. Clive assures me that the Club100 organisation operate a fair and strictly managed tombola system but I’ve got 12 months to work on it.”

Thanks Andy for sharing. We already have high hopes for next year and meanwhile our balloons will be flying sky high all summer including at the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta which this year is being held from 7 – 10 August. If you can go, it really is the most brilliant day out!