Style Celebrations

I attended the David Grist Memorial Lecture near Birmingham this week, organised by the fabulous Graham Lee. I left Edinburgh about 4.30am on Wednesday morning and drove through the fog, sunshine, fog and sunshine down to Halesowen, arriving just after 9.00am. Although I knew the lecture would be worth it, it’s still a tedious drive, the M74 / M6, but it was wonderful to witness the sunrise and day break over the Solway Firth at the border - just beautiful…

David Grist, for anyone who doesn’t know, was an immensly talented and innovative balloon modeller and twister who sadly passed away in 2005. David never owned a balloon or party shop, so had no ‘legacy’ to leave - apart that is from a collection of instructional videos he recorded shortly before his death. In total a series of 9 DVDs are available ranging from instructions for simple animals, right up to complex, award winning, bi-planes and sit inside cars.

I never had the pleasure to meet David, but I know several people who were lucky enough to spend time with him and call him a friend. The overwhelming sense you get from those who knew him is that this was not only a man of immense talent who was genuinely world class in his field - but more was a warm, wonderfully funny, compassionate and sharing person.

It was wonderful that David’s wife, Vanessa, was at the lecture, and I can only hope that she feels immense pride in what David achieved, and that his name will live on for many years to come. I think it’s probably indicative of the influence of the man that lectures held in his name bring in delegates of all abilities from all over the UK and beyond - and the lectures themselves (this year delivered by the similarly talented Colin Myles) are not only informative, funny and educational but ultimately achieve the goal that I suspect David would have wanted - that of helping, sharing, enjoying and having fun.

Recently, Graham Lee (www.grahamleesmagic.co.uk) hosted the first ‘Care and Share Day’ of 2010 in Banstead, which by all accounts was very successful and very well attended. Graham is a very talented and experienced balloon artist, and throughout the year offers these days to professionals, and hobbyists, at a minimal cost. They are a great opportunity to network, catch up with friends and acquaintances, and (most importantly) learn new skills and compositions.

I recently asked Graham about the possibility of hosting a day like this in Scotland, and while he was more than willing to do so in principle, warned me that historically take up or interest in this had been, well, poor — to put it mildly.

So I decided that I’d try to rally some interest and see if we could make it happen this year - after all, who wouldn’t want to learn new designs, which means more variety to your repertoire, which means more work, which means more income - at virtually no cost…? Well, bizarrely it appears that short of a few good professionals in Central Scotland the answer is pretty much no-one.

Frankly, I’m amazed, disappointed and (if I may be so cheeky) almost pleased at the response (or lack of). Amazed that more don’t seem to care about furthering their skills base; Disappointed - that more don’t
seem to care about furthering their skills base, and pleased — because if I’m learning new things and my competitors aren’t, then it keeps my offering fresh, up to date and ahead of the others – simply, I’ll know things that they probably won’t.

There may not be a ‘Care and Share Day’ in Scotland this year - but you can be guaranteed I’ll be attending one – somewhere in the UK - and keeping my skills and models fresh – which means more work for me and a better range of compositions for you.

–Neil

Welcome to our blog. Over the coming weeks and months we’ll be adding content here around all things balloons. We’ll report on industry events and courses, jams and of course jobs we’ve done - keeping you up to speed with all we’re up to. Also, we’ll be expressing opinions on topics related to the balloon industry so check back regularly.

–Neil