THE Lions Club of Tavistock said it was difficult to believe on Wednesday of last week, when it was sunny and calm, that the decision to cancel Saturday’s hot air Balloon Glow was going to be correct.

The Lions Club, which was organising the event, had been advised by Gloucestershire-based Exclusive Ballooning, the company that was arranging for the balloonists to travel to Devon, that the weather forecast for the Saturday evening was going to be dire, with strong winds and heavy rain and not at all suitable for any ballooning activity and for that reason, the event had to be cancelled.

Club president Paul Blowey said he had never known so many people with their fingers crossed hoping for bad weather and as it turned out, the forecast for once was remarkably accurate, thereby vindicating the difficult decision to cancel the glow.

He said that the club and Exclusive Ballooning had not given up hope of rescheduling the event for later in the year when, with the darker evenings, it could be held a couple of hours or so earlier. Paul said if it did go ahead, the club would make sure that it was well publicised as they knew what a popular event it was.