16th July 2008

@ St.Anne's Primary School, Standish Lower Ground, Wigan

Firstly, many thanks must go to the sponsors of the Balloon Launch, Tayplay. Tayplay are manufacturers of rope based play equipment, based in Perth, Scotland. TayPlay was the first company we contacted to ask if they would sponsor the event for us, as soon as we explained what the event was for without hesitation Leroy one of the partners of Tayplay (what a star), said he would like to pay for all of the balloons for us, which I'm sure you will agree is absolutely fantastic.

Balloon.co.uk supplied all of the equipment for us and made sure everything ran smoothly with delivery, balloon printing e.t.c, thank you to Derek. After a few emails, and phone calls the day was set to go ahead at Jack's school St.Anne's.

We started the day off with a wave goodbye to Jack as he went into his class, then off we went through the serene corridors of St.Anne's Primary. We were taken through into the main hall by Mrs Parkinson and Mrs Power who then brought out the balloons ready for us to start blowing up. Kevin & Peter who very kindly helped throughout the day brought out the helium canisters.

Our helpers for the day were Julie (Dylan's mum), Claire, Kevin, Peter, Mum, Dad, Uncle Mike, Auntie Mo, Linda & her Mother-in-law, myself, Dan, Maj and of course Alison who organised the whole event (wonder woman). We all stood around for about 10 minutes trying to figure out the instructions on how to set up the netting. Whilst we were deep in thought the gazebo was set up for shelter in case of rain. As it turned out it was not the rain we should have been sheltered from, but the very strong wind!

So with the netting ready and attached to the railings it was now time to start the long and I mean long process of blowing, tieing and tagging 1000 balloons ready for the launch. Three hours it took us to fill the net, although we did have a few escapees along the way.

Mrs Parkinson was very kind by keeping us in a steady supply of tea, coffee and biscuits. As the net was filling up it was then time to make sure that none of the balloons escaped. This job was given to my dad who did a great job of keeping hold of it. (I hear he lost at his bowling match later that night- must have been all that holding on to the net!).

The children were able to see from their classrooms our progress with filling the net up, this apparently kept them amused. We had a really good day although it was hard going - in the end it was to prove very worth while.

At around half past twelve we finally filled up the net with all of our balloons, so it was time to have a lunch break. Chip barms never tasted so good! A few of us quite fancied a school dinner, the smells coming from the school kitchen were wonderful!

Mr Wright, Deputy Head brought all of the children into the assembly hall to introduce Alison to them. This was to give her the opportunity to explain what the day was about and to answer a few questions about Jack. When it was time for Jack's class to come in it was a real heart warming moment as soon as he saw his mum he got a 'chuff on'. He must have wondered why we were all there too. This did not phase him at all and at one point he was stood in front of the whole school with his hands behind his back as though he was taking the assembly. Ali was brilliant and handled all of the questions which Mr Wright and the children asked her. It is not easy standing in front of a large group of people. (well done Pip!). Some of the questions which were being asked from the children were very good. It was clear the children were very interested and curious as to what was Autism and how it affects Jack. One little girl asked 'After Jack has had the treatment - would he remember anything that has happened to him? A prize was given out also to the pupil who sold the most balloons - (A total of 63) well done Kieran.

It was now time for us all to have the task of getting the balloons to the playground, where all of the children would be waiting. It took about 6 of us to carry the net, making sure that none of us took off. The newspaper photographer was also at the launch taking lots of great pics along the way.

This was a very tense moment and we were all hoping that it would go off without a hitch, especially after all our hard work. The children were asked to do a countdown and Kieran who sold the most balloons was to release them. WOW what happened next was as in Mr Wright's words 'A day these children will remember for the rest of their lives', I know I will. It was amazing! The wind was so perfect for the balloons to get up and in no time they were out of sight. The children absolutely loved it and lots of them took videos for the school and pictures of the launch.