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(Please note that the large list of 2^nd hand inflatables & equipment for sale was emailed out to all members on 28/10/05 and as a result many of them have already been sold).

The 2005 LIW show at the NEC, Birmingham in September, was another excellent opportunity to see a very varied selection of some of the finest inflatables in the

and to meet the manufacturers in person. In addition, there was a chance to see other leisure products and services which can be useful add-ons to inflatable hire for the 2006 season.

It was good to see some well known companies exhibiting for the first time (e.g. FML Insurance Services and also Inflated News magazine).

The BIHA stand was busy over the three days and it was good to see so many members who came to the stand and introduced themselves.

Many members took away their free gifts (e.g. key-rings and coasters). Several members also took away a free giant-game and mouse-mats for sharing interesting real-life hire stories (which you can read about later in this newsletter).

Further to a recent communication about our new association display advert, Yellow Pages have asked that we clarify the key benefits of being part of the Corporate BIHA advert. These are as follows:-

- Business credibility is enhanced when you are seen as part of an established association

- 86% of directory users said that their confidence in a business increased if they advertised under a Trade Association banner

Yellow Pages wish to emphasis that Corporate Advertising should be considered complementary to your regular Yellow Pages advertising programme and not as a substitute in attracting your normal business leads.

We hope the new Corporate BIHA box in Yellow Pages receives your support and you regard it as another major benefit from the BIHA.

For more information about Yellow Pages Corporate BIHA advertising, please call Mike Clarke on: 07711 118809.

(The original announcement about this corporate advertising scheme (made at the beginning of Nov 2005 is as below).

If you are a current BIHA member, you should receive (or have already received depending when the dead-line is for your Yellow Pages advertising) a bright yellow flyer from Yell - entitled "Our seal of approval - it's a professional recommendation for you". (with the BIHA logo on it).

Yell has teamed up with the BIHA to create a special display section in every Yellow pages directory in the

, under "Bouncy Castles & Inflatables" section, dedicated solely to BIHA members.

The logic behind this is that 86%* of people looking through the Yellow Pages would rather choose a company who is a member of a trade association. As a result, Yellow Pages have decided to make it very easy for the public to contact BIHA members when they wish to hire an inflatable.

This Corporate Advertising Scheme (CAS) ties in well with the BIHA online training/accreditation which has recently been announced.

One of the main advantages to BIHA members is that they can benefit from the impact of a display advert for the price of a basic line entry.

If you are interested in high impact advertising for your business in the next edition of your local Yellow Pages (for very low cost) - please call the Yell Corporate Advertising Scheme on free phone: 0808 100 7890. (Please give this urgent priority to avoid disappointment - i.e. if your competitiors are mentioned, you need a mention as well!!)

Please note that this corporate advertising will not be a substitute for your normal advertising with Yellow Pages. It is in addition to it, but very low priced.

According to Yell, the general public are now starting to look for association adverts in the Yellow Pages.

I have also provided a way for NAIH members to benefit from this. If you are in the NAIH, but not in the BIHA, please email me: mark.jerram@ntlworld.com

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N.B. For quickest response and the most up-to-date information on the Yell / BIHA Corporate Advertising Scheme, please call 07711 118809.

This will help your potential customers find you easier (without them having to trawl through the Yellow Pages until they find a supplier). Secondly, and very importantly, it will tell your competitors that you operate a bungee run, so that they can pass business over to you (perhaps for a commission) if they do not operate this type of inflatable or are fully booked.

If you would like to advertise your bungee run(s), please email me your full address, company name, website and telephone number to mark.jerram@ntlworld.com ensuring you write “Bungee Run listing” in the subject bar. Thanks.

a) One member provided a large bouncy castle for a school fun day. One of the other attractions was for a massive army Chinook helicopter to fly in to the school playing field, and land in one corner well away from all of the other attractions. As a precautionary measure, the member deflated the bouncy castle and waited for the helicopter to take off. Unfortunately, as the Chinook took off, even though it was over 50 yards from the deflated castle, the incredible power from the exhaust of its jet engines somehow got underneath the castle and tried to violently lift it upwards. The castle was fully staked down, and when the anchor points reached their limit, there was suddenly a huge split in the fabric. The castle could not be used for the rest of the day, and some rather colourful words were passed on to the pilot.

b) During the summer of 2005, there were some troubles in the center of Belfast in

Northern Ireland

. They were so serious, that they were headline news on TV. During these troubles a BIHA member delivered a brand new 12ft x 12ft bouncy castle to a front garden in a house in Belfast which unfortunately was right in the middle of the trouble. At the end of the day’s hire. The member was supposed to go back to the house and collect the castle. However, due to the violence the police had put up road-blocks, and the member decided to collect the castle once the trouble had died down. He was very concerned as a bouncy castle in the middle of a “war-zone” is not to be recommended.

Once the violence had calmed down, he set about trying to retrieve his castle. He drove over to the house and not surprisingly, the castle was no longer in the front garden. He tried to contact the customer – without success. He peered through the living room window, and the kitchen window to see if was in the house. It was not. He checked the back yard, and no castle could be seen.

By this stage, he is starting to panic, dreading the worse. He drives home, and the following day, he manages to contact the customer, who told him that as soon as the violence flared up, they stopped the party and moved the bouncy castle to the downstairs toilet.

c) One member was lifting an inflatable into his van, when he slipped and fell. Unknown to him, he fractured his foot. Despite this injury he still managed to deliver four bouncy castles and collect three of them, before the pain got so bad that he had to admit himself to hospital.

b) One member told me that he delivered a large slide into a field where there were some horses quietly grazing at the back. He didn’t think anything of it until he came to collect the slide later in the afternoon. The horses had become amorous and were running around haphazardly, trying to mate with each other. They were running alarmingly close to the slide which by now had been deflated. The member had to wait until nightfall, when finally the horses had calmed down enough for him to enter the field and take away the slide. But it meant a long wait!

a) One customer said to the operator “Shouldn’t the bouncy castle be moving up and down when the blower is running”.

b) Operator: I will be back later to collect the bouncy castle, if you have any problems – please don’t hesitate to call me on my mobile number. Customer: If I have any problems with the castle, I will just call “999” for a faster response.

“I would like to hire a small bouncy castle for adults to go on the roof terrace of my apartment. The terrace can accommodate a castle of approximately 10x10ft. If it is possible can you please give me details of prices for the 5th November overnight”

This article below appeared in the press following an incident which happened on 31st July last year:-

http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/Online%20Services/News%20Articles/Bouncy%20castle%20owner%20fined%20over%20accident.aspx

The press article from last year can be read here:

http://archive.thisisbarry.co.uk/2004/08/12/7285.html

The hire company involved is based in Aberdare, Glamorgan.

Please note that the BIHA does not generally feel that it is always right to name operators who make a mistake which leads to an incident. However, when the details are mentioned in the press, then word spreads like wildfire about a particular operator who has been prosecuted, as in the above case. Also, important lessons can be learnt from these types of incidents, which hopefully will make our industry that much safer in the future.

To date around 120 sets of van stickers have been sent off. If you would like to order a set of BIHA van stickers – there are just 12 sets left, please email me at: mark.jerram@ntlworld.com (Please could you write “Van stickers” in the subject bar of your email. I am now getting feedback from members who have received their stickers and (with two exceptions) they are all impressed with the exceptionally high quality.

Each set is £15.00 which includes 2 x A4 stickers, a BIHA key-ring and 199 free mini-reports (see www.biha.org.uk/199reports )

BIHA mouse-mats are also available at £3.99 each including postage & packing. Members who buy a mousemat will also receive all the free reports under www.biha.org.uk/199reports If you would like to order a mousemat, please could you email me. We will invoice you later.

The BIHA is delighted to announce the first pre-season Inflatable Industry Show in Telford, (Midlands) on the 7th and 8th March 2006. The venue will be the Telford International Center - Hall 3.

This show will run alongside the Performance Textiles Show (which caters for the marquee industry and other textile related industries).

There will be a very good selection of Inflatable Manufacturers exhibiting their products and also suppliers of accessories to our industry. The BIHA will also be exhibiting.

There will also be networking opportunities and a chance to socialise. (e.g. PERTEXA have organised an evening in a casino, close to the Conference Center).

If you are interested in exhibiting at this trade show in March (The rates are very reaonable). Please contact Michelle Borders (Performance Textiles Association) on: 01827 52337.

Invitations to this show will be emailed out to all BIHA members in the near future.

This new show will be OUR industry trade show and is a very exciting development. If anyone on this message board has any ideas/suggestions to help make this show what it deserves to be - I would be very happy to hear from you (either on this board or directly to: mark.jerram@ntlworld.com ) I will pass all suggestions to the main organisers.

As more news breaks about this Inflatable Industry Show, I will post it on this board.

Please make a note in your diary of these confirmed dates: 7th and 8th March 2006.

Bouncy Castle Repairs Company in Leicestershire is offering generous discounts on PIPA testing.

Brand NEW units will be a 10% Discount from the list price until March 31st 2006. All units that need to be PIPA tested are FREE on all NEW UNITS bought.

BIHA members wanting PIPA tests on used units, can have them for £65.00 plus VAT, where as they are normally £95.00 plus VAT. This offer for £65.00 PIPA tests are ONLY until March 31st 2006. There after they will revert back to the £95.00 plus VAT.

There is an inspection fee of £25.00 per unit, that will also be wavered until March 31st 2006.

10) Please WHITELIST the BIHA newsletters / alerts (sent to members by email).

A few BIHA members have reported that occasionally they do not receive the regular BIHA newsletters / alerts in their email inbox.

If you've missed any newsletters, then it's possible that the email software you're using has for some reason blocked a newsletter or is treating it as spam.

For example, many email software programs delete emails containing certain words or phrases that are quite likely to be in each issue of the BIHA newsletter.

To ensure that you receive each and every issue of the BIHA newsletter (ie. so it's not deleted or moved to your "Junk" folder), please add our email address mark.jerram@ntlworld.com to your ACCEPTED SENDERS LIST by following the instructions below.

Thank you. (If you have any queries or problems, then please email mark.jerram@ntlworld.com with details of the problem and we'll look into it.

Once again, thank you for being a member of the BIHA and we hope you're getting immense value from it for your business.

For Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express ==================================================

To make sure you can see emails as they were intended to be seen (including images), add our email address to your address book and safe sender list.

5. In the Enter an e-mail address or Internet domain name to be added to the list box, enter mark.jerram@ntlworld.com then click OK.

2. Click on "Mail Options" (on the right hand side of your screen). 3. Click on "Filters" (on left hand side of screen). 4. Click "Add" button. 5. Assign a name for this filter: "Newsletter Name". 6. Underneath the heading "if all of the following rules are true..." go to the top row labeled "FROM header." Next to this you will see a drop down menu. Make sure to select "contains", then simply type in our email address into the box provided. 7. At the bottom, where it says "Move the message to:", select "Inbox" from the drop-down menu. 8. Click the "Add Filter" button at the bottom to add this filter.

7. When you see the address you entered in the Safe List box, click on the "OK" button.

3. In the new screen which opens, click "New" (upper left corner). 4. Assign a Quickname in the left hand box. 5. Enter our email address into the "Online Addresses" area.

1. Click the "Spam Controls" link (lower right area of your inbox). 2. When the "Mail & Spam Controls" box appears, click "Custom sender list". 3. Choose "allow email from " option. 4. Add the domain/email address you would like to receive mail from. 5. Click "Add", then "Save".

4a. For AOL version 7.0: In the section for "exclusion and inclusion parameters", include the following domain: * .com 4b. For AOL version 8.0: Select "Allow email from all AOL members, email addresses and domains." 5. Click on "Next" until the "Save" button shows up at the bottom. 6. Click "Save."

The BIHA newletters / alerts are published approx. once a month (but may appear up to 6 times per month) if there is important news or information.

One of the key benefits of being a BIHA member is that you are entitled to a FREE listing of your business on two different websites
which promote

inflatable hire businesses by county. (and also alphabetically).

Please could you visit these two websites and double check that your company / business name, address, tel. number, website address
(if applicable) and contact name is correct. If it is correct, you need do nothing more. However, if it is wrong on www.biha.org.uk and / or
www.leisurescene.com then please could you contact the BIHA webmaster - Mark Stevens at: www.leisurescene.com/Contact.html

If you do e-mail Mark with your new details, please could you be very clear as to how you want your advert to read.
Always mention your county as this is what each member is categorized by.
Please include the following information and which part you want changed.
Business or Company Name:
Address and postcode (including your COUNTY)
One telephone number. (Office, home or mobile)
Website address (if applicable).
Contact name (e.g. John Smith).

It would also be helpful if you included your BIHA membership number - i.e. your IH number (but this is not essential).
With over 1,600 members currently in the BIHA, it becomes a real challenge from an administration point of view making sure
that every member's details are up to date on the two websites.
If you do e-mail Mark, please could you also forward the same email to me at mark.jerram@ntlworld.com so that I can
keep track on who needs changes made to their adverts.

Unfortunately, we are unable to include e-mail addresses in member's adverts. The reason for this is because some members
change their e-mail addresses fairly regularly and the cost of continually updating this information would be too high.
Furthermore, a booking could be lost if a potential customer tried to contact a member on an out of date e-mail address on their
free advert.

Not only do you have cancel all the cards that were in the wallet, you have to get replacements for everything - including your driver's licence.