Our artist, Mr. W. L. Wyllie, thus describes his acrial journey: -"Does she lift?' said the aeronaut. Then let go.' Suddenly the Marble Rink and its surroundings melted away, and we were looking down on a little square patch like an envelope, which I was told was Kennington Park.

"And now Big Ben striking five, Mr. Simmons pulled out his watch, and said that the sound took a minute to reach us. The first impression was very enjoyable. You sat quiet and luxuriously while London spread itself out like a rapidly-moving panorama. The aeronaut now got up into the hoop to reach the cord of the valve, and it began to dawn upon me that the lines looked, at the height we were up, uncommonly slender for the weight they had to sustain. As the acronaut moved about the basket creaked and strained in a manner that suggested unpleasant results should the bottom come out, and he seemed to take a malicious pleasure in continuing on his aerial perch, waving his hat to the noisy but invisible multitude down below. Immediately under us was the dome of St. Paul's, looking about the size of a peppercastor. Every well known feature of London and its environs was distinctly recognisable, while the ceaseless turmoil of the crowd and the rumble of the traffic, varied by the not infrequent shriek of the locomotive, made up a very considerable sum total of sound. All through our journey it appeared to be a noisy world down below. Dogs barked, cows lowed, cocks crowed, invisible boys shouted 

        "A-Ba-loon i A-Ba-loon! Come down here!"

        "London smoke was a great fact.   Looking to windward and to both sides you could see the clear air of the open country, but away to the south-west stretched an endless belt of murky atmosphere. Rising perpendicularly in wreaths, it was quite unlike to the appear- ance it puts on here below.

"The quantity of water visible most surprised me, not only the Thames wending away for miles, but smaller streams, the Brent, the Wandle, the Mole, and an endless succession of ornamental lakes, canals, reservoirs, and ponds. All in turn, as they passed beneath the sun, blazed for a moment with a jewel-like splendour, and thon again melted into grey. Turning our backs to the sun, we could see the docks crowded with shipping, and the widening river gliding to the sea. Gravesend and Sea Reach were distinctly visible, and then we made out the Woolwich Gardens balloon apparently miles beneath us. Presently I became aware that the chimney-pots, tramcars, and passengers had grown quite large. The fact was that without perceiving it we had fallen thousands of feet during the moment or two that we had been looking for the balloon. The explanation I received was that the sun had gone behind a cloud, and that this had caused our rapid descent. Ballast was at once thrown out, and we rose again to a greater height than before. London had meanwhile slipped away from us, for it never appeared that we were moving, we seemed to hang suspended, motionless in the air, while the commerce and wealth of the world were gliding beneath us.

"Occasionally we threw out bits of paper to ascertain whether we were rising or falling; sometimes they hovered lovingly round us, mounting higher and higher: this showed that the balloon was falling earthwards. Then the aeronaut threw out a few handfuls of of sand, whereupon the paper appeared to fall down from us, like a stone, a cold air would rustle in our faces, and we knew that we were mounting again.

"Mr. Simmons looked at his watch, it was twenty minutes past six; we were over a town which we learnt subsequently was Bishop's Stortford; there was no more sand to throw out, and we began slowly to descend. Suddenly the sun dipped into the vapour and at once fields and hedgerows expanded and grew large-we had again fallen thousands of feet.

"Now,' said our captain, stand up and lay hold of the hoop! In another second we touched earth gently with a great sweep, turning over on one side. The balloon rose again, but was brought up by the grapnel in the middle of a turnip field.

Lay hold of the rope,' shouted Mr. Simmons to the country- men, who arrived breathless. We were now about twenty feet from the ground, swaying gently backwards and forwards. We were towed into an adjoining stubble-field, where the unwilling balloon was gradually pulled down hand over hand. The first person to greet us was the clergyman, without his hat, and his watch in his hand; he congratulated us on our punctuality, and informed us that we were in the parish of Widdington, nine miles from Bishop's Stortford in Essex.

"Meanwhile our balloon slowly panted its life away, its once plump, symmetrical figure a thing of the past. Hundreds of willing hands assisted to press out its remnant of vitality. It was rolled up and packed-ah me into its own car, which, monarch of the air, it had so lately borne proudly heavenward, hoisted into a pony cart, and driven to the nearest railway station, where it was looked for London, to be left in the cloak-room till called for on Monday morning."

The Annual Register 1880 

Hot air balloon lands in Widdington

A simultaneous ascent of balloons, arranged under the auspices of the recently formed Balloon Society of Great Britain. According to the programme, eight aerial vehicles were to go up as nearly as possible to five o'clock from an equal number of points within a radius of about ten miles from St. Paul's Cathedral, a prize medal being promised to the aeronaut who, descending within an hour and a half, should have travelled the greatest distance. The weather being fine, dry, and comparatively calm, could hardly have been more favourable for the novel experiment, the objects of which were to attract attention to the claims of the association already named, and to throw some light, if possible, upon the debatable question of wind currents at different altitudes. It was found impossible to carry out the original arrangements in their entirety. The War Office balloon, which was to have been sent up from Woolwich, was unfortunately detained at Dungeness, and, owing to failure in the gas supply, no ascent was made as appointed from the Welsh Harp at Hendon or from Lillie Bridge. From the remaining five stations-viz., the Alexandra Palace, Crystal Palace, Clapham Rink, Epping Forest, and North Woolwich Gardens-successful ascents were made, though not quite simultaneously. The result, broadly stated, seems to have been that the balloons, starting from different points and attaining various altitudes, were irresistibly carried in the same north- north-easterly direction. The current, however, which carried all in one general line proved to be wide in its range, so that the collision which some had feared might result from a tendency to converge on the same point never came near to happening. The first balloon to ascend was that in charge of Mr. Orton, from the Forest Hotel, at Chingford. He left the earth at three minutes to five o'clock, carrying one passenger, and, after a pleasant voyage, descended at Ashton, three miles from Matlock Station, on the Great Eastern Railway. The balloon was in the air one hour and twenty-five minutes, the maximum altitude attained being about 3,000 ft.

 Mr. Simmins left the Clapham Rink at 4.58 P.M., with a balloon containing 26,000 ft. of gas, and lifting 990 lbs. He had a particularly interesting trip, passing over the Thames at Westminster, where he heard Big Ben strike five, and being at a sufficiently low altitude when crossing Moorgate Street to speak to persons below. From this point he was carried by the same current, which appears to have been equally potent with his competitors, northward, along the course of the river Lea.
Mr. Simmins descended at 6.53 P.M. at Widdington, Essex, a distance somewhat under fifty miles. He claimed to have attained a maximum altitude of 14,300 ft., at which he found the temperature to be as low as 39°. Mr. Wright's "Owl," which required over 30,000 cubic feet for the purpose of inflation, went up from the Crystal Palace at a quarter past five. There were four occupants of the car, one of them being Commander Cheyne, R.A., and another an American tourist. This balloon passed over the Thames and the East end of London, and pro- ceeded, by way of Barking, Ilford, Chipping Ongar, and Dunmow, to Little Bardfield, two miles from Halstead, Essex, where it came down. After lowering his grapnel, Mr. Wright observed that it was about to catch some telegraph wires, and, to avoid the injury which would have inevitably re- sulted to the property of her Majesty's Postmaster-General, he cut away the cable without a moment's hesitation-an exhibition of courage and presence of mind which procured for himself and his passengers an even severer shaking than visitors to cloudland always expect when returning to mother earth. Mr. Jackson, a veteran, ascended with one passenger, in a balloon of 30,000 cubic feet, from North Woolwich Gardens, at seven minutes after five, descending in safety at 6.40 P.M. at Three Chimnies Farm, Ridgwell, Hal- stead, Essex, a distance of more than fifty miles from the starting-point, the maximum altitude attained having been 6,250 ft. Mr. Barker went up from the Alexandra Palace at 5.45 P. M., and landed at Berdon, in Essex, a distance of about thirty-four miles. From a tabulated statement subsequently drawn up, it appeared that the maximum rate attained was 27 miles an hour. The result being so nearly equal, each of the five aeronauts received a silver medal.

QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION CAMBRIDGE DISTRICT REGISTRY
BETWEEN:- KATE CANNIN, Plaintiff and JOHN VICTOR HOY, Defendant

I, JOAN VALERIE GALTRESS of Av on, Wood End, Widdington,
Saffron Walden in the County Essex hereby make oath and say as follows:

1. I have lived in Widdington for nine years and have known Mrs. Canning and Mrs. Qu nnell for almost that period of time as they are neighbours of mine. I know John Victor Hoy by sight and have met him on casion and know his son Richard Hoy by sight.

2. When I first moved : Widdington the cottage occupied by Mrs. Canning and the adjoining cottage were a pair of quaint old semi-detached cottages cor lete and apparently sound. The adjoining that cottage occupied by Mrs. Canning is now and has been for some time a derelict eyesore.

3. I have seen John Hoy, working on the adjoining cottage and removing portions of the interior over the-years. I saw the front wall of the adjoining cottage being knocked out from the inside and pieces of plaster and a portion of beam fall partly on the front garden an partly on Mrs. Canning's fence causing damage to the fence. At various times I noticed the hedge had been removed, a fence had been knocked down, the coal shed for the adjoining cottage had been removed causing Mrs. Canning coal shed to fall down, glass was missing from the windows and later the windows themselves were missing. I did not see anyone actually doing any of the afore mentioned acts.
4.         I am aware of the hole in the plaster work of the front of Mrs. Canning's cottage and on or about the 29th July 1976 I went inside Mrs. Canning's cottage and was shown in an upstairs bedroom that the top of a wall cupboard was missing and I could see the sky. The room is obviously very damp and as a result it is only the cupboard doors which prevent rain entering directly into the bedroom.

5)         On or about 5th August 1976 my attention was drawn to Richard Hoy driving a tractor at the rear of the cottage.

I went to the cottage and saw Richard Hoy driving the tractor at the adjoining cottage first with a scoop at ground level, then ... ceiling/first floor level then at roof level.
He was told to stop it but continued driving the tractor repeatedly at the cottage. Serious damage was being caused to the roof and to the whole building including Mrs. Canning's cottage which was moving and it looked as though th cottages would collapse like a pack of cards. I arranged for Mrs. Canning to be taken out of the building and rushed : tlephone the local authority and

Mrs. Canning's solicitors. aber I returned Richard Hoy had left.

SWORN at in the County of this day of )

1976

Before me

A Commissioner for Oaths/

A Solicitor

I would very much like to thank Elizabeth Walker, for these additional newspapers clippings.

The picture of the top of the pop's magazine was June 2001 and that is where I met Robbie Williams the first time.
The paper cutting was a follow up story of the first one you already have on the site.
The Carnival Queen competition cuttings were just because I entered the competition I didn't win or anything like that but I thought as it mentioned
Widdington was good to have.

The dogs today magazine was April 2001 and my dogs were often in Dogs today magazine but they asked me to do it a few times this picture is myself and my White German Shepherd Oban and we made front cover.
I also won a competition to go to Leicester square to a film premiere and after show party where I met lots of stars this was May 2000.
Most of the other things happened in 2001 and it was extra special as I was 18 that year. I also went to watch a show being filmed and the I went to record of
the year that year too so I was really lucky with competitions.