Closing date for the May 2026 issue (No 469) is 28th April 2026
Latest Issue
Issue 468: April 2026
March once again proved the value of our ‘Stop Press’ page in making rapid sales. Sheila Anthony sold her complete Cameron C-80 G-BXLG except the tanks and trailer within days from placing an ad with us, followed similarly by David Stagg and his Thunder Sky Chariot G-BJGE a few days later.
Sales from the List itself include LBL105A G-CECS by Richard Ashford and fans/tanks by Alan Hall and Daren Pallet (Australia).
Moving from ‘Stop Press’ to the main List this issue are Cameron O-84 G-BRGD from Philip Davies and 3 well ‘raced & rallied’ envelopes from Richard Parry (!) including the former Hong Kong based “San Mig” Cameron O-65 G-SMIG. A nice Cameron 90/105 bottom end from David Stagg makes up the final item to move over.
As some parts of England dry out and the odd day dawns clear & calm several of us have been tempted out recently, hopefully putting an end to a long, wet and windy winter.
Fingers are crossed for a nice day on Saturday 25th April as Tim Turner organises the last BBML Inflation Day to be held at David Hopkin’s excellent site at Pidley, Cambs. This is your chance to view a number of BBML envelopes from their store, air your own historic balloon or get your annual inspection (subject to you organising an inspector in advance) at a venue that has a restaurant / bar / café a short walk away. Contact Tim at tjhafb@gmail.com. Pidley will be a very hard act to follow as a venue, but if you know of one tell us in good time for 2028!
Time for bed said Zebedee!
For several months we have been contemplating the future for our business, as has Chris Dunkley at Easy Balloons. Don’t panic! No immediate changes are planned, but being realistic the next few years will see us winding down and we thought we should spell out some timely truths and maybe encourage some youngsters into balloon maintenance & repair.
We have written a joint statement which we hope will trigger both business enterprise and some thoughts as to how you can ease the pain of your next repair …..
Scam Warning
WARNING!
We have been alerted by two of our advertisers to a scam which is currently doing the rounds. In each case the potential buyer agrees to buy an item and then sends a cheque in payment. However the cheque is for more than the asking price of the item. The ‘buyer’ then asks the seller to refund the difference. Because it sometimes takes a week or more for the bank to process a cheque, it can be some time before the seller realises the cheque has bounced.
We have heard of 4 advertisers who have received enquiries in the past week for equipment. They all involve a complicated routine involving (international) cheques and the fact that the enquirer is on honeymoon… beware !