READING ‘The Day a Young American Dropped In’ (Issue 120) and of parachutist Alma Beaumont’s landing near the cycling grounds of North Shields, I was reminded of how those same cycling grounds were well used by the Tyneside Cycling Club of which my father, David Hume, was a regular member.
By coincidence his grandson, who runs a hot-air ballooning company in Edinburgh, is this year operating flights over the Northumbrian countryside, probably in the Wooler and Longframlington areas. However, wind direction permitting, North Shields people might well see another balloonist in their air space!
My only memory of balloons is of the barrage balloons staked in Northumberland Park during the Second World War: an exciting sight for a child in those days.