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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

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, any-

thing you want to sell, buy, ask help with or advice which other mem-

bers 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

©NABAS - The Balloon Association 2013

Published by

NABAS The Balloon Association Ltd

Katepwa House, Ashfield Park Avenue,

Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire, HR9 5AX

01989 762204

Content Editor: NABAS

Front cover: Image courtesy of

The Darkroom, Florence (BACI 2013)

BALLOONIES EDUCATE - PROMOTE - INFORM

NABAS Committee

Philomena Groome, Amiee Hughes ,

Veronica Kamerling, John Lee, Steve

Marsh, George Oustayiannis, Peter

Smith, Paul Widdowson

Secretariat

Gill Hinton, Kate Walker,

Hilary Pulsford, Elizabeth Malcolm

Business Name: Pentangle Owner: Gill & Peter Burgess

Location & area cov-ered: The areas we cover are primarily Warrington and North Cheshire extending to the outskirts of Liver-pool and Manchester. We do however have regular corporate cli-ents, who change ven-ues 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.

NABAS MEMBER INTERVIEW: Gill & Peter Burgess

NABAS MEMBER INTERVIEW: Gill & Peter Burgess 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.

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.

NABAS MEMBER INTERVIEW Cont... Gill & Peter Burgess

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 some-one 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 ©The Darkroom

www.TheDarkroom.it

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

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

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

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

2nd Place - Buffet Arrangement Valter Saladino

3rd Place - Buffet Arrangement Sue Bowler

.

Buffet Arrangement Romina Finali

Buffet Arrangement Sara Zampini

To see more images and videos from

BACI 2013 go to:

http://www.balloonexpress.it/site/

view_page/297

1st Place - Column Rachele Paoli

3rd Place - Column Alberto Falcone

Column Evelise Antonello

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.

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

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

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…

Nearly done and looking good

Entrance Decor

.

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.

3345

Charlotte Holloway

Balloons Galore

Shirley B90 3ES

07936 814 603

3346

Roselyn Olaogun

Peculiar Touch

Sydenham SE26 4EX

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

NABAS NEW MEMBERS

3352

Sarah Laurie

Swindon Balloons

Swindon SN2 1QQ

07500 845704

3353

Gemma Allwood

Air Candy Ltd

Beaconsfield HP9 2BN

07974 195593

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

Yvonne Baynes

Lodge Cordell Balloonery

Tel: 01986 894482

yvonb@tiscali.co.uk

Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2;

Area Covered: East Anglia

Jo Uddin CBA

Balloon Training Academy by Inflated Ideas

Tel: 07904 178024

www.inflatedideas.co.uk

jo@inflatedideas.co.uk

Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2

Area Covered: Hertfordshire & throughout UK

NABAS APPROVED

TEACHERS/TRAINERS

John Lee CBA & Jane Lee ANBA

International Balloon Academy

Tel: 01908 605960 / 07852 204706

www.international-balloon-

academy.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

Just Janie Promotions

Tel: 0141 883 4259

Courses Provided: NABAS Level 1; NABAS Level 2

Area Covered: Scotland

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

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

NABAS APPROVED

TEACHERS/TRAINERS

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

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

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WHOLESALERS, MANUFACTURERS & PRINTERS ADAMS GAS 2 Bath Road, Margate Kent CT9 1SL T:01843 220596 F:01843 228315 steve@adamsgas.co.uk www.adamsgas.co.uk

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

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

BALLOON SUPPLY & DISTRIBUTION 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

BALLOON WORLD 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

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

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

BELBAL UK 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

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

CTI BALLOONS LTD 6 Consul Road, Rugby Warwickshire CV21 1PB T:01788 546299 ctiballoon@aol.com www.ctiballoons.co.uk

DREEMWAY LTD 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

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WHOLESALERS, MANUFACTURERS & PRINTERS

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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

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

PREMIUM BALLOON ACCESSORIES PO Box 352 Sharon Centre, Ohio 44274 USA T: 00 1 330 239 4547 info@coolaire.com www.premiumballoon.com

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

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

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 info@zibi.de www.zibi.de

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Premium’s ‘Air-Filled Alternatives’ to Helium-Filled Balloons Use ‘Free Air’ to provide solutions to the shortage of helium!

NEW MaxiCup™ II, MaxiStick™ II and MaxiBase™ System

This unique system supports large, air-filled jumbo shaped foil or latex balloons!

The MaxiCup™ II has a large “Oval-Shaped” balloon holder for improved support of jumbo shaped foil balloons. The unique, “Slot-N-Lock” system firmly secures and supports the balloon to the balloon holder eliminating the need to refill helium when it leaks out. The 20” MaxiStick™ II is made from a special, Clear, high-impact, engineering grade material for maximum strength, rigidity and support.

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!

Mini Cool Aire® Dual Pro™ Inflator

Premium’s Mini Cool Aire® Dual Pro™ Inflator is the only 2-speed inflator designed specifically to prevent damage to self-sealing foil balloon valves when inflated with air.

• Low Speed for Low-Pressure inflation of foils with the coolest air ever.

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Power consumption is reduced by 50% when used in the “Foil Inflation Mode”!

For more information regarding these great new products

contact Premium at info@premiumballoon.com or www.premiumballoon.com

Please visit ‘Great Balloon Ideas and Recipes’ on Facebook sponsored by Premium for air filled product designs by Professional Balloon Artists

John Preston and Peggy Butland.

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 Sat-

urday 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