Features / bristol balloon fiesta
‘We’ve been coming to the Balloon Fiesta for 40 years’
Striding across the dewy grass in the early morning sunlight at Ashton Court, Colin and Judy Godman are very much at home among the balloons.
And it’s no wonder, for the retired farmers have been ardent supporters of Bristol Balloon Fiesta since the very beginning.
“We’ve been coming to the fiesta for 40 years,” says Colin soon after 6am on Friday morning, pausing with his wife and dog, Pip, to look up and admire the spectacular shapes bobbing in the air to the soundtrack of classical music.
is needed now More than ever
There may have been no mass ascent for the second day running as – true to form – the weather failed to play ball, but this did little to dampen the festival spirit for this landmark year.
And Colin and Judy say they are just delighted to see the beautiful balloons at the picturesque site.
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The couple were on the first “friendly farmers” list of landowners that allowed Fiesta balloonists to land in their field and are only too happy to reminisce on the early days of the fiesta,
“In those days, the public could go in among the balloons down on the ground,” Colin tells Bristol24/7.
“It was routine to let people put their hands on the baskets to keep them weighted down before they flew, but little people would be reluctant to let go so they would shoot up in the air.”
It may be a fine spectacle for the tens of thousands who flock to the free festival each year, but it is also a long-standing tradition and way of life for many involved.
And, luckily, there is a whole new generation of balloonists ready to ensure the fiesta lives on for another four decades.
Alyssa Pitt, 14, (pictured with her mum, Jo) could become the youngest balloon pilot.
At just 14, Alyssa Pitt could be set to become Bristol’s youngest pilot. She can’t get her licence until she turns 17, but is already in training and has been on numerous flights.
The “ballooning-crazy” teenager already says she has ambitions to work for the famous Cameron Balloons in Bedminster, and loves to look down on the city looking like a ‘toy town’ from the skies.
With all generations coming together in true fiesta spirit, it has been a good start to this year’s event even without any balloons high above festival-goers’ heads.
The balloons remained tethered on Friday morning
A wise old owl
Celebrating 40 years of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta
Joseph and Andrea Conery, Poppy Hooker and Jemma Warner traveled from Ramsgate to be at this year’s festival
Read more: Welcome to the Greatest Show at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta
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