It’s a view of the campus that most freshers never expect to see… Emily Roseveare and Rhianna Greene, who are both taking Modern European Studies, enjoyed a flight in The University of Nottingham hot air balloon as it made its first appearance at University Park in almost four years.

The balloon (G-NUNI) may become a more common sight if a University ballooning club is set up.

The balloon was formerly piloted by Dr Janet Folkes, a Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering. Janet, who died from cancer in January 2012, wanted to set up the club and the world-record breaking pilot donated equipment to help get her dream off the ground.

Yvonne Wilkinson, a close friend of Janet and part of her G-NUNI crew who continues to fly the balloon, said: “We were able to give interested staff and students a real ‘hands on’ opportunity to get involved in the balloon set-up and inflation before it took to the skies with its pilot for the day, Robin Waite.”

She said Registrar, Dr Paul Greatrix, is a keen supporter of the cause and also enjoyed a flight. Gusty winds meant flights later had to be curtailed but the crew collected contact details from 100 people who were interested in joining the proposed club.

Yvonne added: “Janet wanted nothing more than for the University to set up its own hot air balloon club. Shew was passionate about getting young people and especially women involved in our wonderful sport and would have been so proud to see the buzz among the freshers and staff at Nottingham as the balloon soared above.”