We have had a fantastic year so far. 2025 has been our best year of ballooning since the team was formed in 2008. We have flown more, attended more events, and achieved more than any other year. Throughout the year we have made some incredible memories and in fairness we thought the year had peaked. How wrong were we!

Matt from Vista Balloon Flights contacted us in September about a balloon glow in November with an experimental twist. This was going to be held at the gliding club at Husbands Bosworth. We weren’t given a huge amount of detail but always being willing to support new projects we agreed to be a part of it. Everything then went quiet for a few weeks, and the event was all but forgotten about.

Matt touched base again about a week before the event and confirmed we were still up for it, he also gave us a little more detail. We then began to look ahead at the weather. As usual with the Great British weather it changed daily. However, as the event drew closer the weather stabilised due to a band of high pressure moving in and everything looked good for the day.

The 8th of November soon rolled around. We met up with Matt, Rob Lovell, and other members of the Vista team to refuel from our last adventure. We then headed down to Husbands Bosworth Gliding Club where the event was to be held. For those that don’t know Jamie did most of his training flights from Hus Bos and checked out there too.

We soon arrived on site to find Husbands Bosworth transformed into a big event ground, food trucks, stalls, a fun fair and loads of entertainment. It put some of the balloon festivals to shame in terms of things to do outside of the main attractions. They even had Star Wars characters and knights fighting dragons walking around entertaining the kids (and adults).

The briefing was held by the Husbands Bosworth organisation team, Rob from a company called AeroSPARX and Matt. The plan for the day was that Rob was going to take off in a specially kitted out plane loaded with pyros and do a display. Prior to his display our balloon TIMX and Rob Lovells ladybird balloon would inflate and begin to glow supported by three bottom ends. Once the AeroSPARX display was finished the balloons would take centre stage and do a “proper” glow to music. After this there would be a firework display. We were asked to keep the balloons up for the beginning of the fireworks display for some photos too.

The safety team at Husbands Bosworth, plus Matt, Rob and the fireworks company went to great lengths to ensure everything was positioned safely. There were three briefings in total, the one detailed above, one about an hour before kicking off and another just before we started. Everything was explained professionally, and everyone knew what they were doing.

We soon had our balloon laid our in position waiting for the signal to begin cold inflation. At this stage, the winds had dropped to around six knots which was well within the limits of a safe tether and glow.

As Rob took off in the AeroSPARX plane we begin to cold inflate. Rob L and I had planned to hot inflate at the same time for the crowds. Matt delayed things ever so slightly so he could get a photo shoot with his dog done inside of the Ladybird balloon but other than that we were on time.

Soon both balloons were hot inflated, the tether systems triple checked, and we were ready to go. It was an amazing perspective watching AeroSPARX perform whilst in the balloon. We had seen pyros on planes at the Midlands Air Festival a couple of times and assumed this would be more of the same. How wrong we were, the AeroSPARX display was genuinely incredible in every way and really wowed the crowds (and us!). The display was soon over, and the plane landed. It then began doing donuts for the crowds whilst deploying smoke and being lit in LED’s, just incredible!

Soon it was time for our main part. We glowed to the same track from Northampton Balloon Festival. We even had Chris Freeman along to direct us through it! The glow went well and for the most part we kept in time to the commands and direction. The crowds and PA guy enjoyed it anyway. The layout of the balloons and bottom ends made for an effective display.

Next it was time for the Fireworks, we were given instructions via the radio to keep the balloons up for a few minutes whilst the first few went off for photos. This went off without a hitch, and the fallout was a good distance away from the balloons. The crowds were loving the mix of colours created by the balloons and fireworks and so were we. We were then asked if we would stay up for the remainder of the display which we were happy to agree to. This allowed everyone to get some incredible photos and videos.

Soon the display was finished and it was time to pack up, for some reason when it’s getting colder you seem to pack everything away quickly and we were soon on our way back to refuel, look through the photos and videos and process the incredible event we had been a part of.

This has to be one of the highlights of the year and certainly the best glow we have ever been part of. The AeroSPARX display was just incredible and on another level. The ground fireworks were top notch and rivalled anything we had seen to date. All of that combined with the balloons and other entertainment on offer made for a fantastic event from the crowds. Over three thousand people were in attendance, and I don’t think a single person left disappointed. This was one of those rare events that under promised and over delivered. Attendees had plenty to do all day leading up to the main event with fair prices on the stalls and side shows too.

We were also very well looked after by the Gliding Club, Matt, and the others. This was a great example of what can be achieved by pushing the boundaries in a controlled and safe way. We hope to attend again in 2026. We have added some more photos below the links underneath.

Please consider checking out the following

The Gliding Club here – https://www.theglidingcentre.co.uk/

Vista Balloon Flights here – https://www.vistaballoonflights.co.uk/

AeroSPARX here – https://www.aerosparx.com/