Myself and husband Craig decided to raise money for The Bristol children's hospital as this is close to our hearts. 

 As a parent, family or friend you want the best treatment for a child if they become unwell and need to be admitted to hospital and that is something which The  Bristol children's hospital do we just wanted to show our appreciation by giving something back. 

Having used Bristol children's hospital for our son, our nephews and also our friends children before, throughout and after lockdown and seeing what they have done is more than words can express. 

As hot air balloon pilots born and raised in Bristol now raising a family of our own we thought what better way than to put on a nightglow with the help of our pilot friends , 

Unfortunately due to current situation we had to do this with great planning, social distancing, bubble groups to put on a spectacular show at a secret location. 

With the plans already underway it hit home harder 2 days before we were due to carry out the glow when we received the news that our son Freddie's best Friend Phoebe from nursery aged 3 is undergoing chemo treatment at The Bristol Childrens Hospital .

We carried out the glow on Friday 7th August as planned which was  co-ordinated by Craig Thompson with the help of local pilots 

Amanda Thompson,, Rich Simpkins, Hannah Powell, Sally Stevens, Phil Mccheyne, Derek Maltby, Steve Thomas, Steve Withers, Douglas Hoddinott, Liam Whitlock, Craig Bryant, Mike Evans Matt Stevens, Nic Amor, matt Cooper, Colin Hodges, Matt Sampson, Rob Grzesiczek and Andy Booth. 

and their ground crew teams and thank them for all for giving up their time to help us put on the show for a great cause . 

The glow finished with fireworks which we would like to  thank Tom Gouder and team for firing them 

We had social distancing bbq before hand which donations were collected for food and drink. 

We held a raffle which we were donated so many prizes and have so many people to thank but here are just a few. 

S m gauge and bens tile balloon team

S m gauge company 

Ben's Tiles and reclamation 

Bws standfast balloon team

Bristol balloons

Kuibicek balloons uk

Dragonfly beauty 

Sky burst fireworks 

Exclusive Ballooning 

With fundraising donations so far we are already at £1400 raised for Wallace and Gromit's The Grand Appeal charity.

We would now like to share our video with you to  put a smile on your face and hope you can help us raise a little more money for The Bristol Children's Hospital where every little bit makes a big difference to a child. 

This we thank Matt Joyce of MJ Ballooning for his time in filming and editing for us. 

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page, we hope you can donate and share to make others smile and put a smile on the children's faces.

We qppreciate your support

Mandy, Craig, Freddie & all Bristol pilots who were involved 

We are going to be carrying out other fundraisers in the future for The Bristol Children's Hospital Wallace and Gromit's Grand Appeal so keep and eye out on our fb page Balloonists For The Children 

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.