'I was the first balloonist to take off at the fiesta'

Chenube Roy (l) was the pilot for Catherine Moller and Stephen Browne who had just got married at Ashton Court Mansion

When the Bristol Balloon Fiesta started in 1979, the honour of the first ever ascent was meant to go to the event's creator, Don Cameron.

Except that he was beaten by a female pilot who wanted to give a newlywed couple flying with her something special to remember.

Chenube Roy, 86, from Bath, said: "I felt awful going first but we had a bit of wind and I was encouraged to fly. I'm not sure if Don ever forgave me."

Ms Roy, who also claimed Britain's highest female ascent record, added: "I never thought of myself as a pioneer, I was just living my dreams."

Ms Roy only flew at the fiesta once, and did not return until 2023.

It was a welcome homecoming for someone who has flown all her life.

"It is much better-organised now, the first year was such a big experiment," she said.

"In 1979, crowds just gathered in a big field and that was it.

"When I went back to Ashton Court I cried, my heart was longing for those wonderful occasions I had and it brought back many happy memories of time I had flying," she added.

Ms Roy recalled how the bride in her fiesta flight, Catherine Moller, was a bit over-dressed for the occasion.

"She was still in her wedding gown, we found a pair of wellington boots for her to wear in the basket so she didn't get her shoes dirty," she said.

Ms Roy set a women's height record in 1980, flying to 14,500ft (4419m) in 1980

A few months after receiving the accidental accolade of first fiesta flight, Ms Roy broke a British record for the highest female ascent.

On 1 January 1980, she climbed to 14,500ft (4419m).

"The temperature outside the balloon was -37 degrees," she said.

"I could have flown higher and further, but I wasn't that far from the coast and I could see France quite clearly.

"The English Channel didn't look that wide but I realised if I had landed in France my crew would have had a long way to go to come and collect me.

"When I landed, the basket was dragged along for 300 feet (91m) so we were going fast," she said.

Ms Roy flew the Barratt balloon at the first fiesta in 1979

The ascent record led Ms Roy to rub shoulders with some big names.

She was invited by multi-millionaire magazine publisher and ballooning fan Malcolm Forbes to the Château de Balleroy in Normandy for one of his lavish parties.

"At that event I met Günter Wetzel and his family, who fled communist East Germany in a balloon, they had built themselves in secret.

"One time I landed in the garden of a very wealthy Norwich family, and they were thrilled.

"I was invited inside to meet them, and from then on we could take off from there whenever we wanted," she said.

Ms Roy has looked back on her ballooning career with affection

Ms Roy went on to fly balloons all around the world, using the income to raise her two children as a single mother when she lived in California.

The last time she flew was in South Africa in 1994.

"The people that you meet, the crews - everyone was happy. What's not to be happy about when you're flying in a balloon?

"It was such a joyful pursuit."