Balloonies 175 2013

175 Issue 2 2013 NABAS The only independent trade association for the party & promotional balloon industry in the UK

BALLOONIES

NABAS Committee 2013 As there were no nominations received from the membership for the 2013 election onto the Management Committee, the two co-optees (Amiee Hughes & George Oustayiannis) were automatically elected by default. Your NABAS committee for the following year is therefore as follows (in alphabetical order): Philomena Groome (decorator & NABAS Approved Teacher); Amiee Hughes (decorator); Veronica Kamerling (decorator); John Lee - Chairman (decorator & NABAS Approved Teacher); Steve Marsh (decorator); George Oustayiannis (wholesaler); Peter Smith (printer); Paul Widdowson - Vice Chairman (retailer): Amiee Hughes: My name is Amiee Hughes and I have been in the Balloon Industry for 15 months. I completed NABAS Levels 1 & 2, before setting up a company called Partylicious-Wrexham.

My company specialises in balloon decor for all occasions.

I currently run the company on a part time basis from home, however my ambition is to work in the balloon industry full time and to become a NABAS Approved Teacher. I am always striving to deliver a professional quality service to all of my customers and I am always learning new skills to improve upon my designs.

After attending the AGM last year, I decided to apply for a place on the committee. I hope to represent all of the decorators who are new to the balloon industry, just like me. Since starting in the industry, I have found NABAS to be a lifeline of support and advice. I know just how difficult and challenging the industry is, and I hope to share the views of the newbie's on the committee. I hope that any NABAS member can approach me and share their views on what help & support they want from NABAS now and in the future.

I strongly believe that I can help NABAS to move with the times and to use technology to create a strong NABAS culture and support network for all of it's members. I am proud of what NABAS represents and I want every NABAS member to see other members as an associate and not as a competitor.

FROM YOUR CHAIRMAN

BALLOONIES EDUCATE - PROMOTE - INFORM

Dear Member The wedding season is well and truly upon us now and for all you go getters out there I expect you are very busy. We know that during these difficult times people are cutting back on their costs but they are still booking decor, maybe not spending as much, which means you can take more bookings in the day. There are some great new things happening within NABAS, one of which will be a completely revamped website, part of which will allow you to interact with other members and also put yourself up on our soon to be Social Media, anything you want to sell, buy, ask help with or advice which other members can share any of their situations good or bad that they may have been in or had similar experiences of. Also we will be setting up regional seminars for those members who would like to attend but can't travel the distances ie South East, Southern, South West, West Country, South Wales, Central, Midlands, etc.etc. We will email dates and places until our website is set up, then we will post notices on the NABAS Intranet which only members will be able to log into. There is a lot happening but as I said in a previous column, it will all take a little time setting up. For those of you who are BOC customers, your Balloon Gas supply problems should more or less be over, however, those of you that are Heligas customers, there are still supply problems in many areas.

This they hope to rectify in the not to distant future.

John Lee, NABAS Chairman

Balloonies No. 175 Issue 2 2013 ŠNABAS - The Balloon Association 2013

NABAS Committee

Published by

Philomena Groome, Amiee Hughes , Veronica Kamerling, John Lee, Steve Marsh, George Oustayiannis, Peter Smith, Paul Widdowson

NABAS The Balloon Association Ltd Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Avenue, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5AX 01989 762204

Secretariat

Content Editor: NABAS

Gill Hinton, Kate Walker,

Front cover: Image courtesy of The Darkroom, Florence (BACI 2013)

Hilary Pulsford, Elizabeth Malcolm

NABAS MEMBER INTERVIEW: Gill & Peter Burgess Business Name: Pentangle

Owner: Gill & Peter Burgess

Location & area covered: The areas we cover are primarily Warrington and North Cheshire extending to the outskirts of Liverpool and Manchester.

We do however have regular corporate clients, who change venues for national events which requires us to work further afield, so occasionally you will find us out as far as North Wales, the Midlands and North Lancashire.

What was your career path to where you are today?: Retail training started in Pentangle Cards and Gifts in the early 70’s then on to House of Fraser ( Kendal Milne, Manchester) and briefly at Cordon Bleu.

Name something in the balloon industry that you most like: The best part of the balloon and party industry is the difference you can make to an event, making it special for the customer and helping to create the ‘wow’ factor by transforming the venue.

Name something in the balloon industry that you least like: Least Liked?

Newcomers to the industry who are not prepared to undertake even basic training and price out poor jobs at low prices, this is evident from the questions that new customers to us ask who have previously had a bad decorating experience.

Best thing about your job?: When a customer comes back with a glowing tale of how great the party was, how good the venue looked, and bring in a few pieces of cake for the ‘girls’ What best describes your business?: Balloon decorator? Balloon & costume retailer? Other? We would like to be thought of as a one stop party shop.

We go out to decorate venues with both balloon décor as well as party product if required. We have a walk in service for most balloon work. We print personalised banners, balloons and sashes. We supply balloons and helium to ‘DIY’ customers as well as florists, car dealers and small home based decorators, We stock a full range of party themed accessories, piñatas, flags, bunting, face paint etc.

We have a full fancy dress costume and accessory section How did you decide on your business name?: The name Pentangle was the original name of our Card and Gift shop ( next door but one) which now trades under the Hallmark Gold Crown banner, we decided to keep a non-generic name to enable us to go in any direction without changing shop the name. Plus the fact that Pentangle is well known and has built up a good reputation over the last 40 years in the South Warrington area.

NABAS MEMBER INTERVIEW Cont... Gill & Peter Burgess What advertising works for you?: Advertising is something that we do less & less in the traditional form. The internet search engines have superseded newspapers and yellow pages etc. We have a large on line gallery with several hundred images and ideas which we are happy to let customers look through, we work on good relationships with local venues & support the ones that support us.

Do you show at Wedding Fairs? Other ?: The wedding market has shrunk over the last several years, with large glass floristry table centres being very much in fashion at the moment, we will support our local hotels wedding open days and we have just been Involved in a ‘Win a Wedding’ competition with a local hotel and several other independent wedding service suppliers.

The first prize being worth over £10,000 to the lucky couple.

Do you have an online presence? : We were very early into ‘online presence’ with our information web site which we launched about 12 years ago, we are currently working on a new site which will include e-commerce and several other specialised services.

How would you like your business to grow in the next few years?: We will be looking closely at streamlining the business over the next few years as trends change, we will focus on the more profitable areas of the business & try to build up the on line ordering via the web site.

How is the ‘credit crunch’ affecting you?: Any recession is very worrying for a business, this will be the third that the business has had to weather! The trick is to be flexible, customers will still celebrate major events just perhaps not in the same way. Big budget events may become smaller, home based, more DIY you have to get as much of whatever market is out there.

What tip would you offer someone new to the business?: The best advice for new start business would be to understand how ‘business’ works. It is not sufficient to be able to put together good work if you don’t understand how to price the work to enable you to grow the business.

All images ŠThe Darkroom www.TheDarkroom.it

2ndPlace - Large Sculpture Italian Championship "#27499" by Robbie Furman

1st Place - Large Sculpture Italian Championship "White Bear Star" by Svetlana Lugovaya Russia

1st Place - Large Sculpture Master Championship "When You Wish Upon A Star" by Alberto Falcone Team

2nd Place Large Sculpture Master Championship "An Intergalactic Pizza Delivery" by Dmitry Tishenko Russia Team

3rd Place - Large Sculpture Master Championship "Planetarium"

by Federico Onida Balloon Express Shop Cagliari Team

Large Sculpture Master Championship "Every Baby Is A Star" by Tania Torre & Team

Large Sculpture Master Championship "Stars In Love"

by Allessandro Patane

3rd Place - Large Sculpture Italian Championship "La Notte Dei Re (The Night of the Kings)" by Elisa D’Onoro

3rd Place - Buffet Arrangement Sue Bowler

2nd Place - Buffet Arrangement Valter Saladino

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Buffet Arrangement Romina Finali

Buffet Arrangement Sara Zampini

1st Place - Column Rachele Paoli

3rd Place - Column Alberto Falcone

Column Evelise Antonello

To see more images and videos from BACI 2013 go to: http://www.balloonexpress.it/site/ view_page/297

The Italian Job - BACI 2013

By Matthew Lewis - Matthew Lewis Displays

Back in January this year I was approached by Pioneer Europe and asked the head the decor for BACI. Over previous years this decor had been designed and installed by the teachers but with their heavy work load and total commitment to training it’s one of those jobs that gets done at the last minute and causes stress to those involved, but this year was to be different as I was to head a team of volunteers to create some real impact decor…THE WOW FACTOR was about to hit BACI. Now those of you that know me will know I am not afraid of large spaces as I have supplied decor for the NEC, The ICC, National Motor Cycle Museum and Ricoh Arena to name but a few.

It's a big space so it's going to need some BIG decor

As the brief came through from BACI HQ for their requirements it dawned on me that this job was going to need some extra help so without hesitation I booked Mike Harris CBA and without a shadow of a doubt I can tell you it was the right choice. So rather than ramble on about what we did - as they say…a picture say’s a thousand words, ENJOY

Nearly done and looking good

We arrive at the venue at 8am each morning which was about a mile walk from the hotel and set about our mission. The delegates from the BACI conference were to help but by the end of the first day only 2 had turned up, but they were good.

The language barrier was a problem but a quick demo was all that was required and the decor started to take shape. We had 4 main areas to decorate which was stage, ceiling, entrance and tables.

By Monday at 4pm all areas had been done and it was time to party‌ Entrance Decor

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Stage Décor LEFT

Stage Décor RIGHT

Awesome chains by Mike Harris CBA

36" Air filled stars hang from the ceiling and just above head height. Simple decor but stunning effect

3334 Amanda Thompson The Balloon Fairy Newcastle Tyne & Wear NE12 6EZ 0191 2686132 3335 Tracy Mitcham Tracy's Flowers & Balloons Hatfield Hertfordshire AL10 8HW 07940 279 063 3336 Theresa Simons Theresa's Balloon-T-Fuls Sheffield S13 7JD 07525 262665 3337 Melissa Johnson Blissful Balloons Great Barr Birmingham B43 6LU 07968 528953 3338 Janet Rowlands Starlit Floors Rochdale Lancashire OL1 4JR 01706 844 987 3339 CTI Balloons Ltd Rugby Warwickshire CV21 1PB 01788 546299

NABAS NEW MEMBERS 3340 Adams Gas Margate Kent CT9 1SJ 01843 220596 3341 Joanna Spence JS Floral Designs Enfield Middlesex EN3 6SL 07577 989519 3342 Becky Kitter Wivatwist Ltd London N11 1BA 07951 958665 3343 Amanda Vrac Celebration Island Swansea SA5 9AP 01792 422816 3344 Lyndsey Egan Forget Me Not Balloons & Occasions Cumbernauld G67 2HF 07505 759901 Please note that inclusions of any inserts/adverts within Balloonies are paid-for advertisements and therefore members should not consider this action as an endorsement by NABAS of the products or services.

NABAS NEW MEMBERS 3345 Charlotte Holloway Balloons Galore Shirley B90 3ES 07936 814 603

3352 Sarah Laurie Swindon Balloons Swindon SN2 1QQ 07500 845704

3346 Roselyn Olaogun Peculiar Touch Sydenham SE26 4EX

3353 Gemma Allwood Air Candy Ltd Beaconsfield HP9 2BN 07974 195593

3347 Lucia Johnson Wallington SM6 8EP 0208 395 3173 3348 Justine Jenkins Just B'Loons Hemel Hempstead HP1 1JS 07917 832005 3349 Tracy Bishop Woking GU21 3BY 07759 654340 3350 Tina Fisher Altered Images St Albans AL2 2NZ 01727 872122 3351 Samantha Atkins Creative Imps Lincoln LN2 1BH 07792 264046

3354 Kerry Warrington Faringdon SN7 7AT 07816 255585 3355 Richard Palmer Stubbington Village Florist Stubbington PO14 2JG 07775 507728 3356 Sylvia Garshong Milton Keynes MK41 8HZ 07852 832844 3357 Yuri Margossian Stage Door Ventures Ltd Harpenden AL5 1LH 01582 461886 3358 Esther Akintode Dagenham RM9 4EU 07775 505562

NABAS APPROVED TEACHERS/TRAINERS

Yvonne Baynes Lodge Cordell Balloonery Tel: 01986 894482 yvonb@tiscali.co.uk Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2; Area Covered: East Anglia

John Lee CBA & Jane Lee ANBA International Balloon Academy Tel: 01908 605960 / 07852 204706 www.international-balloonacademy.co.uk iba@bloonoccasions.co.uk Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2; Basics & Beyond; Beyond the Basics; Varied range of Master Classes Area Covered: Milton Keynes and beyond

Janie Bacon Jo Uddin CBA

Just Janie Promotions Tel: 0141 883 4259

Balloon Training Academy by Inflated Ideas Tel: 07904 178024

Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2

www.inflatedideas.co.uk jo@inflatedideas.co.uk

Area Covered: Scotland

Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2 Area Covered: Hertfordshire & throughout UK

Rita Kyriacou CBA Marguerite's Academy of Balloon Artistry Tel: 01279 639508 www.marguerites-academy.co.uk ritakyriacou@btinternet.com Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2; Wedding Workshops Area Covered: Hertfordshire, Essex & the South East

Mitch Gilbert CBA Rainbow Balloons Tel: 01625 585910

NABAS APPROVED TEACHERS/TRAINERS

Philomena Groome CBA School House of Balloons Tel: 07956 226824 www.fantazia-decorations.co.uk info@fantazia-decorations.co.uk Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2; Exploding Balloons; Wedding Workshop Area Covered: Yorkshire & throughout UK

www.rainbowballoons.me.uk info@rainbowballoons.me.uk Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2; Advanced level; 260’s Course; Balloon Drops Area Covered: Cheshire, NW England & Nth Wales

Mary George Gretna Green Creations Tel: 01709 818636 www.gretnagreencreations.co.uk info@gretnagreencreations.co.uk Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2;

Area Covered: Yorkshire and the North East

WHOLESALERS, MANUFACTURERS & PRINTERS ADAMS GAS

BALLOONS TO GO

2 Bath Road, Margate Kent CT9 1SL T:01843 220596 F:01843 228315 steve@adamsgas.co.uk www.adamsgas.co.uk

160 Eardley Road, Streatham London SW16 5TG T:020 8679 7766 F:020 8679 8889 sales@balloonstogo.co.uk www.balloonstogo.co.uk

B-LOONY LTD

BELBAL UK

Buck House Sunnyside Road Chesham, Bucks HP5 2AR T:01494 774 376 F:01494 791268 balloons@b-loony.co.uk www.b-loony.com

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BALLOONS & GAS LTD Unit 6, 8 Meadow Road, Glasgow G11 6HX T:0141 337 3373 sales@balloonsandgas.co.uk www.balloonsandgas.co.uk

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Broadgate House, Church Street Deeping St James, Peterborough Lincolnshire PE6 8HD T:01778 343 445 F:01778 347 230 info@belbaluk.co.uk www.belbaluk.co.uk

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BOC LTD

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BALLOON SUPPLY & DISTRIBUTION

The Priestly Centre, 10 Priestly Road The Surrey Research Park, Guilford Surrey GU2 7XY T:01483 244035 www.bocballoongas.co.uk

Unit1B. Woodside House, Woodside Park, Catteshall Lane, Godalming, Surrey GU7 1LG T:01483 808121 F:01483 808 141 sales@balloonsupply.co.uk www.balloonsupply.co.uk

CTI BALLOONS LTD

BALLOON WORLD

DREEMWAY LTD

Unit E Parkside Business Park, Kirkstead Way Golborne, Cheshire WA3 3PY T:01942 719888 F:01942 719 988 sales@balloonworld.co.uk www.balloonworld.co.uk

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BALLOONS AROUND SCOTLAND 100 Carnegie Road, Hillington Ind Est Glasgow G52 4JZ T:0141 882 8107 F:0141 882 9925 sales@balloonsaroundscotland.com www.balloonsaroundscotland.com

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6 Consul Road, Rugby Warwickshire CV21 1PB T:01788 546299 ctiballoon@aol.com www.ctiballoons.co.uk 50 Stockton Road, Chorlton Manchester M21 9ED T:0161 861 8807 F:0161 881 9289 sales@dreemway.co.uk www.dreemway.co.uk

FDL LTD (Festive Decoration & Lighting) Holland House , 2 Toll Bar Street Stockport Cheshire SK1 3EW T:0161 474 7772 fdl@fdl.li www.fdl.li

Indicates print service offered

WHOLESALERS, MANUFACTURERS & PRINTERS FOLKDEAN LTD Unit 2 Lydney Harbour Estate, Lydney Gloucestershire GL15 4EJ T:01594 841545 F:01594 844 577 sales@folkdean.co.uk www.folkdean.co.uk

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GO INTERNATIONAL (UK) LTD Unit 15, The IO Centre, Arlington Business Park, Whittle Way, Stevenage SG1 2BD T:01438 745746 F:01438 745747 george@gointernational.co.uk www.gointernational.co.uk

HOUSE PARTI 20 Mandervell Road, Oadby Industrial Estate, Oadby, Leicestershire LE2 5LQ T:0116 271 0100 F:0116 271 0300 sales@houseparti.com www.houseparti.com

OAKTREE UK LTD 66 James Carter Road Industrial Estate Mildenhall, Suffolk IP28 7DE T:01638 716655 F:01638 711211 sales@oaktreeuk.com www.oaktreeuk.com

PARTY DELIGHTS LTD Unit 4 Tallow Way, Fairhills Road Irlam, Manchester M44 6RJ T:0161 776 1133 F:0161 776 1144 steveg@partydelights.co.uk www.partydelights.co.uk

PARTY PLUS 16/42 Canham Road, Acton London W3 7SR T:020 8811 2898 steve@partyplus.co.uk www.partyplus.co.uk

SAUNDERS DISPLAYS Unit 10 Buzzard Creek Industrial Estate River Road, Barking IG11 0EL T:020 8594 7221 mark@saundersdisplays.co.uk www.balloonframesbysaunders.co.uk

TALKING BALLOONS McGregor’s Way, Turnoaks Business Park Chesterfield, Derbyshire S40 2WB T:01246 270555 F:01246 270566 sales@talkingballoons.com www.talkingballoons.com

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theballoonshop.co.uk Compound 1 The Enterprise Centre, Mill Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 5BW T:01257 795700 F:01257 795150 sales@theballoonshop.co.uk www.theballoonshop.co.uk

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VIBORG BALLON A/S Gortlervej 7 DK8800 Viborg DENMARK T:00 45 866 21200 bini@viborg-ballon.dk www.viborg-ballon.dk

WORTHINGTON CYLINDERS Beim Flaschenwerk 1 A-3291 Keinberg bei Gaming AUSTRIA T:00 43 7485 606 272 F:00 43 7485 606 694 Timo.snoeren@wthg.at www.worthingtoncylinders.com www.balloontime.com

ZIBI GmbH Kalkdarren 15 D-79713 Bad Sackingen GERMANY T:00 49 776 192 4010 PREMIUM BALLOON ACCESSORIES info@zibi.de PO Box 352 Sharon Centre, Ohio 44274 www.zibi.de USA T: 00 1 330 239 4547 info@coolaire.com = Indicates print service offered www.premiumballoon.com

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The MaxiBase™ II + Premium Multi-Tape™ allow firm attachment to any surface, perfect support for the MaxiCup™ II & MaxiStick™ II.

The Magnetic MaxiBase™ is reusable and firmly attached to any metal surface.

The MultiBase System displays Air-Filled foil balloons at retail or for Centerpiece decorations, filled with FREE AIR vs. Helium, offering huge savings. Eliminates the need to refill helium when it leaks out of foils!

The NEW MultiBase™ Display accepts the MaxiBase ™ and when filled with water becomes an anchor to easily display your air-filled balloons in any retail or party situation. Weighs only 30-grams empty and 625-grams when filled with water. Can be filled with marbles, sand, candy or just color the water for a stunning effect!

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For more information regarding these great new products contact Premium at info@premiumballoon.com or www.premiumballoon.com

NABAS MEMBERS - NEWS NABAS Member Paul Gillen of Balloon Creations, Manchester supplied the Arches and Columns, over the streets of Manchester, for the runners for this years Manchester 10k run.

They had a team of four working on the event overnight. The arches and columns were assembled in Manchester Central overnight on Saturday and then installed in place over the streets of Manchester as the road closures began; starting around 4am Sunday morning. The image shows the main start although other parts of the course were also supplied with balloon arches and columns.

Paul estimates that around 4000 balloons were used on the event in total. They made two huge street spanning arches and nine large upright columns. The balloons are used as colour code methods to help guide the runners to their respective assembly area so have functionality as well as being visually spectacular.

Paul also calculated that making the decor, then transporting it to where it is fitted in place caused him and his team to walk much more than the 10k that the runners undertake !!

If you have created something amazing that you would like to see published in the next issue of Balloonies then just send in a high resolution image to info@nabas.co.uk and we will do the rest.

Exclusive NABAS Membership Offer June 2013

Custom Printed Balloon Package 100 10” balloons printed one side with any one colour design or wording + 100 cups and sticks + 1 small hand pump + FREE DELIVERY

ONLY £29.99 + VAT

Use to promote your own business or sell them on for a quick easy profit.

To order simply email your design or wording to sales@folkdean.co.uk quoting your NABAS membership number & Offer Code NABASF0613 Hurry offer only valid until June 30th 2013 To sign up for our latest Folkdean Trade Price List and occasional balloon printing updates please click on this link http://tinyurl.com/oyzdp3c Folkdean Ltd, Unit 2, Lydney Harbour Estate, Harbour Road, Lydney GL15 4EJ Tel: 01594 841545