28th August - 6th September 2015
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NEWS  
A remarquable night at the Jubilee Oval culminating with a mass "Night Glow", of 9 baloons, burning in sequence. More pictures and videos on Facebook:  August 26, 2015: Committee Meeting. Next meeting: Wednesday 16, September.  
August 23, 2015: A very enjoyable training session with Gary Lacey explaining the measurements for the scoring while the Clemants Brothers did show how a balloon is filled with hot air. August 15, 2015:
Competition Director Gary Lacey will be hosting a training, information and equipment familiarisation day, on Sunday 23 August 2015 at 2 p.m. at the Northam Airfield (see map, GETTING THERE).
We welcome all our Volunteers who have registered with Michelle, to come and meet Gary and other members of the team, and join us in the Northam Aero Club rooms afterwards. August 12, 2015: Committee Meeting. Next Committee Meeting: Wednesday 19, 2015 Volunteers Training session: Sunday 23, 2015. July 29, 2015: The Official Event Rules are now available on the Electronic Notice Board: http://www.balloon-enb.org/?p=261 July 24, 2015: The Electronic Map for the event is now available on the Electronic Notice Board: http://www.balloon-enb.org/?p=257 June 21, 2015: The Organizing Committee has had great news from hangar owner and long-time member of the Northam Aero Club, Graham King. Graham, Northam based Pilot and aircraft builder, offered to contact hangar owners at the airfield, with a view to space being made available for temporary nearby balloon storage. He reports back that several owners are happy to make space available during the Nationals. The advantage of local storage will save travelling with, and securing equipment, during the event. Graham and his wife Anne have also offered their services as crew for competing Pilots, and help with early morning coffees. More on this later .... June 6, 2015: Members of the NNCC welcoming Director Gary Lacey in Northam for a fruitfull session. 
May 21, 2015: COMMUNITY EVENTS Keep up to date with the many Community Events being held during this exciting time for Northam, on our ‘Community andEvents‘ page. A new addition to the page is the Northam Agricultural Show, which takes just after the conclusion of the Championships. The Team at the National Ballooning Championships are keen to encourage everyone to attend this entertaining and informative event, which showcases the efforts of our local growers and producers, as one of the vital keys to the success of any ballooning event is the good relations with local farmers and landowners. The Northam Agricultural Society CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS! We have added a new page to our site which details the many opportunities to get hands-on involvement in this exciting event. Volunteers will be needed to assist both the Organisers and the visiting Balloon Teams in a variety of roles; some of which are Ground Crew, Balloon Target Team Observers, and Local Guides for visiting Balloon Ground Crews. Details May 21, 2015: The Northam Nationals Committee has appointed well known Farming identities in the Northam Area Ian and Brendan Parker, as the Rural Liaison Officers for the Australian Championship Ballooning Event. Both of the Father and Son team farm grain and sheep near Quellington, and have a long and illustrious history with the Northam Agricultural Society. In preparation for the task, both have received a briefing from ballooning and farming identity Adrian Clements. They are formulating method and strategies to provide and interface between the balloonist and the Northam area agricultural community. May 20, 2015: Two important meetings in NAC Headquarters.. The first with members of the emergengy groups of Northam: Shire of Northam, SEMC, St John Ambulance and the NNBC. They were Ross Rayson,Torben Bendtsen and John Hansen (Shire), Yvette Grigg (SEMC), Lyndell Savage, Steve Hall and Steve Douglas ( St John Ambulance) Gren Putland, Donna Tasker, Mike Clements and Claude Meunier (NNBC).(Photo by Sally Woods)  Second meeting: monthly NNBC meeting. Next meeting: June 3. April 22, 2015: Northam National Ballooning Championship Committee meeting in NAC Headquarters. We had the pleasure of meeting Event Coordinator Marija Jelavic. Also present were Ian and Rhiannon Bristow-Stagg presenting the 'Flight Discovery Zone'. Next meeting: May 6, 2015. April 8, 2015: Northam National Ballooning Championship Committee meeting in NAC Headquarters. The participation of the local Northam community was noted. In particular "Lucy's Cafe" offering longer opening hours to accomodate the pilots and their crews. Next meeting: April 22, 2015. SPONSORSHIP: The arrangements are now confirmed for the WA State ‘Eventscorp‘ sponsorship of the Northam Nationals. This is great news and allows progress on various fronts. Improved promotion and publicity is now assured for the Event. The Northam Aero Club, Shire of Northam and The Northam Nationals Committee are most excited about this development, which reflects the hard work of the Committee over an extended period of time. MAPS: Development of the competition map continues. A small but dedicated group is led by Ed Cooper (Northam Surveyor) with able assistance from the Kavanagh/Robinson duo. As the map is developed it has been subject to regular review by the Event Director. The maps will be available electronically and in hard copy versions. We intend to have them available in the electronic format well prior to the Event for familiarisation. The effort of the team building the map is recognised. BALLOON FREIGHT: The Committee is currently exploring reduced freight options for balloon equipment to WA. Watch this space – we expect information in the near future. CONTACTS: Any request for information can be managed through the website sequence; however, the following contacts may be helpful: o Accommodation: The Northam Visitors Centre is not a booking agency, but is keen to assist with advice on aspects of suitability, access, etc. The team at the Centre is lead by Victoria Jones. o Locality Information: The Windward Adventures office is based at the Northam Airfield, and is WA‘s premier Commercial Operation. The girls, Heather and Jenelle, are available for locality and logistical advice on 08 9621 2000 or info@windwardballooning.com.  October 22, 2014: Northam National Ballooning Championship Committee meeting in NNBC Headquarters. An offer from Sean Kavanagh, to assist with preparation of the competition maps has been gratefully accepted by the Nationals Committee. Sean has had significant involvement with the preparation of Event Maps for previous Championships. He will join Ed Cooper (surveyor and member of the organising group) to prepare the competition maps for printing. We expect the preparation phase to be completed by March ’15, with early printing to follow. The Committee extends thanks to Ed and Sean. June Barstow, long time Aero Club Member, artist and casting expert, has been seconded to the Nationals organising group. She has commenced design on an Event Memento. Her brief was to produce an item iconic and relevant to both the Northam Nationals and the Avon Valley Region. These will be presented to competitors and officials post event. Options have been sighted and are impressive to say the least. We look forward to the final design. October 1, 2014:  Information Session in the Northam Aero Club rooms. Left to right: Grenville Putland, NNBC Chairman, Stephen Pollard, Northam Shire President, Donna Tasker, Event Coordinator. 
September 16, 2014:AN INVITATION On Wednesday the 1st October the Northam National Ballooning Championship Committee will be holding an information session at the Northam Aero Club. The information session will consist of an afternoon tea and info session regarding the National Hot Air Ballooning Championships which are being held from the 27th August to the 5th September 2015 in Northam. Proceedings will kick off at 3pm and we would like to encourage all that are interested in being involved with the event to attend. We would particularly like to invite and encourage community groups, local businesses and members of the community to attend. We would love for anyone who has an interest in aviation and ballooning in particular to attend and find out what how you can be involved in what will be a fantastic event hosted by the Northam Aero Club over the beautiful Avon Valley. For more information please check out: http://www.northamnationals.com, (this Site) The Northam Nationals Face Book page Email us. or Contact Donna 0439 020 512 
September 16, 2014:PRESS RELEASE Australia has a New World Champion. Nicola Scaife, 29, originally from Albury but now resident in Rothbury NSW is the new Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) World Women’s Hot Air Balloon Champion. Nicola has been competing in the World Championship in Lesno Poland. After establishing an early lead Nicola flew consistently to maintain her lead with close competition provided by Elisabeth Kinderman from Austria and Ekaterina Larikova from Russia. By the end of the fourth flight and after 14 tasks Nicola managed to increase her lead over the bulk of the fleet but was still being pressed by Ms Kindermann. By the close of the event after 5 flights and 16 tasks Nicola maintained her lead to become the first ever Australian Woman’s World Hot Air Champion. Nicola took up ballooning in 2006 and was issued with her private Pilot’s Certificate late 2007 and progressed through to becoming a Commercial Pilot flying passengers in the Hunter Valley and around the Hawkesbury region outside Sydney. In April Nicola competed in the Australian National Championships held in Canowindra NSW during April 2014. 
September 6, 2014:Don Whitford, meteorologist for the 2015 Northam Nationals, visited Northam on the weekend of 6-7 September to familiarize himself with the local topography and micro-meteorology. Gren Putland gave Don an extensive tour of the Avon Valley region to point out potential launching sites and explained the effects the Avon River valley has on local flying conditions. Conditions were suitable for flying on Sunday and Don accompanied Gren on a one hour flight over the Northam Township. This provided Don with a good appreciation of the local terrain and he was able to experience first hand, the low level steerage along the river valley. |