Big balloon drops onto school field
Lessons at a Northampton primary school came to a standstill when a giant hot air balloon made a surprise landing in the middle of a playing field.
Hundreds of pupils at Ecton Brook Primary School poured out of class
at about 9am to see the crew of 10 touch down after youngsters spotted
the balloon descending onto their green space.
Reporting at the scene, year six pupil Rosa Reid said: "Pupils and
teachers rushed out excitedly to the balloon and its nine passengers who
were celebrating varying special occasions.
"Lawrie Ellis, the pilot of the hot air balloon, told some of the hildren that he had travelled from the Marriott Hotel along the A45 and, due to the morning being extremely misty, had to make a landing on the spacious school field."
Meanwhile, fellow young reporter Kane Claydon writes: "Year six pupils
were also given the opportunity to help move the hot air balloon and
pack it away. Pupils and teachers had a fantastic experience and invited
Lawrie to come back later in the morning to give an assembly.
"At 11am Lawrie returned to speak to the children and allowed
them to ask him questions and gave them a wide range of historical information about hot air balloons."
Speaking after the event, Mr Ellis, of The Ballooning Business, said he did not realise the playing field belonged to the school until the crew started landing.
He said: "We often fly over Northampton and I had two separate parties who were celebrating different events on board.
"We'd only been up in the air for 50 minutes to an hour. Then we saw the children streaming out of the school and standing behind the fencing waving and cheering at us as we started touching down.
"It was wonderful to have the children greet us and to help pack the balloon afterwards.
"For the woman who was celebrating her 70th birthday, it really made
her morning."
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Weather for Northampton
Friday 10 February 2012
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