CONGRATULATIONS to Olivia Jones (age 12) —- winner of our 10th Birthday Balloon launch held between 2nd-15 April 2012.  433 balloons were launched mainly in rainy conditions and on the final day (15 April) Olivia let her balloon go in excellent weather – clear and blustery.  The balloon took off along with 42 other balloons and quickly rose high into the sky and out of view.  The balloon travelled in a Southerly direction and finally landed 158 miles away at some horse stables in Hartley Wintney where Caroline Burrow from Farnborough found the balloon on 30 April.  13 tags were found in total and are listed below.

Tag no. 397 – Olivia Jones – found by Caroline Burrow in Farnborough – 158 miles – WINNER

Tag no. 94 – George Withers – found by John Bishop on a farm in Colwall, Worcestershire – 108.9 miles

Tag no. 315 – Tallulah Whiting – found by Dan Gill, Air Traffic Controller on the runway at RAF Cranwell (pity it didn’t hitch a ride)!! – 34.8 miles.

Tag no. 297 – Isobel Davis – found by Miss Vassey in Skillington Nr. Grantham, Lincolnshire – 45.4 miles

Tag no. 120 – Tom Zerboni – found by Mrs Wheatley in Horsley Woodhouse, Ilkeston – 16.4 miles

Tag no. 72 – Will Milford – found by Robert Gillan at Portland Visitor Centre, Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Notts – 4.8 miles

Tag no. 220 – Jayden Sadler – found by Mrs Lewis in Mansfield Woodhouse – 3.3 miles

Tag no. 54 – Eden Connigan – found by Mr Flint on Ling Forest Road, Mansfield – 2.1 miles

Tag no. 378 – Bethany Bolus – found by the Rigby Family of King Edward Avenue, Mansfield – 1.75 miles

Tag no. 59 – Matthew Perry – found by Mrs Bark on Little Barn Court, Mansfield – 1.6 miles

Tag no. 71 – Bailey Marsden – found by Stuart Duckmanton on Windsor Road, Mansfield – 0.8 miles

Tag no. 63 – Sophie Dillingham – found by Joy Watson on Rock Hill, Mansfield – .25 miles

Tag no. 64 – Kara Dillingham – found by Jean Munyaradzi on Roseberry Hill, Mansfield – .4 miles

Olivia is coming back to visit us at Making it! on 5 June to receive her prize.  Check back for pictures of Caroline.

If you attended our Balloon Launch, write a comment on facebook about your day with us and write a review on Trip Advisor.

Winners of our 10th Birthday Card competition were Grace Perry age 8, Codie Dexter age 8 and Mollie King age 10.  They all receive a free family ticket to visit Making it! discovery centre over the Summer holidays.   A huge thanks you to all the children who made us a birthday card – there were some fantastic designs and we will be putting all the cards into a special folder to put on display in the centre.  Well done to everyone.

CONGRATULATIONS to Isobel Hewitt from Creswell – Winner of our Eggstravaganza Easter Egg Hunt.  A special Easter Egg prize is on its way to Isobel.  Well done to all the children who took part in the Hunt.

During the half term in June, we will be holding lots of exciting activities and events to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

We will be posting up further information in the near future – sign up for our newsletter on the home page and you will be sent information directly to your email address as soon as it is available.

Due to the increase in postage costs, we are no longer posting out flyers about our What’s On activities so make sure you sign up for the newsletter asap so you don’t miss out on booking information.

The last of our “mass balloon” launches took place today.  There were fourteen mass launches held between 2nd – 15th April.  The weather was not very favourable with plenty of rain and low cloud although Friday last week and today were better weather conditions.  The balloons travelled in a northerly direction twice, west four times, south twice and east six times. We have received phone calls from “tag finders” mostly in the Mansfield district although there have been a few from greater distances.  One tag finder from Portsmouth phoned although the tag was in such a bad condition, they couldn’t read the number.  During next week, we will be posting up information with tag numbers and names so keep checking back to the website for updates.  The cut off date is 13 May for tags to be returned.  Good Luck to everyone who took part.

MASS BALLOON LAUN CH - 15 APRIL 2012

Balloons launched on Thursday on two separate launches – at the first launch, the balloons travelled in a westerly direction over towards Sutton in Ashfield, Matlock, Cheshire and onto Wales,at  the second launch, the balloons travelled in a more southerly direction over Hucknall, Nottingham, Leicester and onto Portsmouth and over the sea to France.  No new phone calls today from tag finders.  Hopefully yesterdays balloons travelled further than those released on Monday and Tuesday.  Keep checking back form more updates.  Lots of pictures on our Facebook site – making it discovery centre.   Thanks to all those who took part.

The balloons launched on Wednesday, 4th April travelled in a westerly direction over towards Sutton in Ashfield, Matlock, Cheshire and on to Wales (with a fair wind).  We have had some phone calls from people who have found balloon tags – unfortunately, due to the bad weather earlier in the week – the balloons didn’t travel very far – keep checking our website and facebook site for updates and more photographs – making it discovery centre

Some of the winners from our “10 past Raffle” – William was our 10 past 1 winner and Kira Ann won the raffle at 10 past 2.

The balloons were launched at 15oohrs today by a group of excited children – balloons belonging to William, Imogen, Megan, Kira, Amelia, Ellie, Honor, James, Jasmine, Eleanor, Matthew, Joseph, Oliver, Bella and Lucy headed up the side of the discovery centre and as soon as they reached the roof top, the wind caught them and whisked them off in an Easterly direction over towards Bilsthorpe then Newark way, over Lincoln Cathedral, onto Skegness and over the sea to Holland (providing the wind didn’t change)!!!  Come back to our website tomorrow to see which direction Tuesday’s Balloon launch went.

Making it! is 10!

Wow, time flies when you’re having fun! It’s our 10th Birthday and we’d love it if you came to celebrate with us. We’ve got lots of exciting things going on at the centre over the school holidays, as well as plenty of prizes to give away! Come and see us between 2nd-13th April and join in the birthday fun!  Groupon ticket holders visiting on 14th – 15th April will also be able to participate in the offers below.

Celebrating your birthday too?

If your birthday is in April like ours, bring along some proof of age and celebrate with us for free! That’s right, free admission to the Discovery Centre for under 16’s born in April!

Fancy a free Crème Egg?*

Yes, you read it right! If you’re coming to see us between 2nd-15th April, download this voucher for your free Crème Egg!

Is it that time again already?

Everyone that comes to celebrate with us at Making it! between 2nd-15th April will be given a ticket on admission, keep your ticket safe and your eye on your watch because at ten past every single hour, we’ll be drawing out a ticket to win a prize!

Win a Family Pass!

We all like to receive cards on our birthday and we’d love it if you could make us a birthday card and bring it with you when you visit Making it! All the cards will go up on display so everyone can see your handy work and when the celebration is over, we’ll choose some cards to win a free Family Pass; get those crayons out!

Daily balloon launch!

Everyone visiting Making it! during our birthday celebrations will be asked to decorate a tag on arrival.  At the end of each day, we’ll attach your tag to a helium balloon and it will be launched into the atmosphere!  When one month has passed, we’ll work out whose balloon travelled the farthest and the lucky launcher will win a special prize!

*Terms & Conditions

Voucher to be exchanged at time of admission. Voucher to be completed before admission. One voucher per visitor. Valid 2nd-15th April 2012.