We have decided to share this story with you to show how we at
Bounce-A-Lot are not afraid of a challenge
are committed to our customers and will do
everything within our power to meet their demands.

We were contacted in October via E Mail by Detective Sergeant
Vic Murphy of Essex Police, he had been seconded to Albania where he
and his colleague's (Police Officers from all over Europe)
were working extremely hard to build up local communities, as well as
being closely involved with the Children and Orphanages over there.

Basically Vic wanted us to provide him with a 15' x 15' Bouncy Castle , a trailer,
a petrol driven generator, and an electric blower all as cheaply as possible as he
and his colleagues had raised the money themselves to pay for this to make
Christmas a little bit special this year for the Children of Albania.

We had to communicate solely by E Mail as they suffered very frequent
power cuts in Albania, so this was difficult in itself.
We even had to very quickly design and add another page to our website allowing
Vic to show us the colours and designs he needed, which had to be very carefully
chosen for political reasons. You can see the results of that hastily put together page,
as it was and as yet not tidied up, by visiting our
Design your own Bouncy castle page.
( This will be neater soon)

To cut a very long story shorter we spent many hours and days ringing various
companies to enable us to get the best possible deal for Vic.
We provided the extra artwork he needed free of charge.
We found a Company who provided his Electric Blower at cost price
We found a Company who built him a specially strengthened Trailer at
Cost Price and collected it from them.
We persuaded our Courier Company to deliver it to Heathrow airport
free of charge.
We managed to find him a Second hand Generator in very good condition
at a really good price. Vic himself had managed to get British Airways
to take it to Brussels free of charge and Malev Airlines to fly it
to Albania again free of charge.

All that was left was for us to make sure all this happened and the
castle arrived in time for Christmas, relying on instructions from Vic
by E Mail. This is where the fun started.I have included excerpts from
our E Mails to explain the drama as it unfolded

13 th December:
(Vic had managed to pay part of the money involved in our Account)
Hi Alan, I'm glad the money arrived ok. I'll make inquiries to see who the
next Brit is going home and when. If it is too long away then I'll have
to revert to a money transfer. As far as transport etc. is concerned,
Maliv airlines have offered to bring it free from Budapest to Tirana.
Unfortunately, because of the size (6ft x 4ft x 4ft)they can not get it
through the door of the planes they have flying from London Heathrow
to Budapest. I am now trying to make contact with BA through a colleague
in Essex who has been over here previously and is aware of the poverty
and so on. He should be able to swing it. My hope is to transport it on or
about the 15th. Will the trailer / Bouncy / generator etc. all be ready by then?
Do you have any thoughts or plans about getting it from the Coventry area to Heathrow?
If not then I shall have to try and arrange it through perhaps
your local police. The earlier you let me know the better. As you can
imagine, the logistics involved in contacting so many different people
(who put me on to others and then others still)is very time consuming.
Something that is rapidly disappearing. I'm determined to make this work
and to the planned schedule. Just need to get rid of these mouth ulcers!!
Look forward to your reply, thanks
Vic

We replied that we would liaise with everyone involved, and
contacted the trailer Company who told us the the Trailer should hopefully
be ready by Monday 18th Dec, but we would need to contact them on the
day to make sure.
We told Vic that our Courier company would take it for us.

18 th December
Hi Alan thanks for your message regarding the trailer. I,ve just typed
a whole load and lost it so you may get the bulk of this message twice.
Basically, I am in the hands of British Airways at the moment who, through
a number of reasons have been held up in their dealings.You may be
getting a message from her direct. They are aware of the urgency.
Just to remind you, I had hoped to use the bouncy at the Tirana Orphanage
this week. That no longer seems likely. It is not too much of a
problem as I can reschedule it for early in the new year. What is paramount
is that the package arrives by the 22nd December as I have to take it to
the south of Albania (6 hour drive in not nice conditions) for the police
orphans programme being held on the 22/23/24th Dec. If it does not
arrive on time I will have failed and let alot of people down.
I hope between us all we can succeed. Is it possible to have every
thing packed and ready to go? You may wish to contact Claire (BA) direct.
I have no problem with that, the more we all work together the more chance of success.
I will pay the remainder of the balance in to your bank within 7 days.
SeveralBrits are heading back to the UK over the next week. Thanks for
all your help in putting this project together. It is so nice when people go
that extra mile to help.

We contacted the trailer company but it was not quite ready .Our hands
were still tied until we had details for the airport.

Tuesday 19th December
Alan Hi, great news, BA can help. Please contact Claire at BA.with accurate
details of weight and dimensions. plus a copy to me. I know the approximate
details as you have explained previously. Please respond to me to confirm you
have this message and will action it. Thanks

Tuesday 19th Dec
(Part of an E Mail to BA Forwarded to us )
I have just spoken to Malev Air. They are unable to send or receive e mail
at the moment as there is an electricity failure and their server is down. A
(frequent problem here) They only have three cargo flights per week.
The next one is on Thursday morning leaving BUDAPEST at 0600hrs local time.
Brussels is not an option because of the time restraints. He tells me you have
two flights tomorrow. Is it possible to get it on one of them? I will e mail Alan
at Bounce a lot to see if he can get it to you in time. No doubt he too will contact you.

19th Dec almost Midnight
The time pressure is back on I'm afraid. What are the chances of getting
it to BA in time? If your carriers cannot do it I will try and work
something with local police traffic unit.
Vic

Wed 20th Dec (First thing that morning)
We contacted our Couriers who unfortunately could not oblige to meet the
deadline as they needed more notice.We were really disappointed at this
news as we knew we only had a few hours and it would be too late.I
devoted the morning to try and sort everything out and caught up
by working half the following night. After spending several hours contacting
every courier company we could think of plus any agencies we thought may
have been able to get the package to Heathrow same day and asap but
to no avail. Our own van was fully in use for the day delivering and
collecting bouncy castles throughout Warwickshire for Children's
Christmas parties, we were also under pressure to get several other
orders built and delivered for Christmas as promised, so there was no
way we could actually transport the Bouncer to the airport ourselves
which I would gladly have done if at all possible.
Realizing that everything now depended on us and that Vic was not
going to be able to make other arrangements at such short notice, we
contacted our local radio station and made a last minute very nervous
appeal on air for someone to help.
Amazingly within 5 mins a chap had very kindly offered to come
and collect the Bouncy castle and Trailer and deliver it to Heathrow
free of charge. We were absolutely astounded by how
quickly someone had volunteered ,it was so generous and
so near Christmas when so many people had turned us down earlier.
We then had a mad 20 mile dash to collect the Trailer which had literally
just been finished. We packed everything up and sent it whilst desperately
trying to locate and contact Claire from BA to inform her and get
a Booking number which if not present would result in the stuff being
turned away at Heathrow.

By 3pm The castle had arrived in Heathrow and everything was once
again out of our hands, apart from liaising with the freight department
as to the number of items etc., plus ringing BA desperately trying to
find out if our package made the crucial flight, so we could all relax.

20 th Dec
Hi Alan, I really struck lucky choosing your company. Im amazed at the
support and dedication you have put into this it's hard trying to do it
alone indeed, would have been almost impossible.

All through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day our thoughts were with
Vic, hoping everything had gone according to plan and praying that all the
hard work, we and everyone else involved had put in had not been in vain.

Then
A British Success in Albania !
Hi Alan, To say my Christmas has been hectic is an understatement. It is now
Boxing day and I intend to spend it 'e' mailing all those who have supported
me over the past few weeks. Ok, update time. Yes it arrived - THANK YOU.
I went to the main football stadium (incidentally where England will be
playing in March) on Friday morning (23rd) where the children all met up.
The numbers were not as I thought,there were 50 not 150 (Thank God)
They had to review the age limit because of staffing problems.
When I arrived they were all looking for and expecting
the Bouncy Castle. I had to explain that there was a minor hold up but that it
would arrive Saturday morning whereupon I would drive it to Llogara.
(In the south of Albania where all the kids were heading)
You can imagine my anxiety the following morning when at 1000hrs the
Malev cargo plane flew in. I would have felt so bad had it not been on board.
Well it was and with a bit of smooth talking by my interpreter I was
allowed to drive on to the runway, hook the trailer up as it rolled off the
plane and at 1100hrs high tailed it out of the airport with a promise to
sort out the paperwork later.
Five hours later just as it was getting dark I arrived to find a sea of
smiling faces. In no time at all it was up and chaos broke out in the
scramble to clamber on it. The law was laid down regarding numbers,
age grouping, no shoes etc and at 2300hrs
the plug was pulled. The following morning I had a lovely lie in - not!
Three hours more of bouncing before the trek home. The children all
showed their appreciation by stopping in the mountains and snow balling
the hell out of me.
Saturday night (Christmas Eve) I attended the children's Christmas party
where the Mayor, various politicians and other dignitaries gave speeches.
I was invited to do likewise. Unfortunately, as I had not expected to be asked
to make a speech, I had not brought my interpreter. One of the guys who speaks
some English did the honours. It was all televised and listening to it on
Christmas Day was fine except that the guy who stood in to interpret
obviously enjoyed some journalistic license. It was ok though.
I have been asked to display it in Skanderbeg Square (Albanias
equivalent of Trafalger Square but about three times bigger)
for the New Years festivities. I've agreed on condition that only children
use it and no fees charged. The Mayor's 2ic has promised two police officers
to control it.
The future of the 'Bouncy' has yet to be decided but I'm hoping
to give it to a childrens charity. Children in need, Sisters of Mercy
(based on Mother Theresa who was Albanian)
or maybe UNICEF. There are plenty to choose from. Well there you
have it, a success which was made so by many people not least of all you
Alan. You know what,if I was in business, you're the sort of guy
I'd like working with me.
You went the extra mile to make things work. - Getting the generator
(which works fine) the trailer, phoning around,chasing about to ensure it
arrived on time. Brilliant work contacting the radio station.
If you send me details I will e mail them with a thank
you message. I shall also send thanks to the guy who drove it
to the airport at short notice. The final stages especially,
needed to be positively controlled with a personal touch.
You did that, professionally and with vigour.
Thank you I am very very grateful.
The bouncy works well and is in great demand.
I shall ensure that those who helped with this venture receive appropriate
creditation when the bouncy is officially handed over to whoever.
I shall update you as and when. Alan, I wish you a very happy and successful
New Year and perhaps one day in the not too distant future we could
meet up for a beer.
Vic Murphy

Wonderful news
We were very proud to be involved with this project and so pleased
that the outcome was so successful.
We hope that the Bouncer is enjoyed for many years to come by the
Children of Albania.

Our Sincere thanks go to
Gibbons Fans of Essex for supplying the Electric Blower at Cost Price
David at Pegasus Trailers for making the trailer at Cost Price
Claire At BA for all her help and for liaising with us
Mercia FM Radio Station for helping at such short notice
and last but by no means least Les from Forefield Transport in
Coventryfor volunteering to take it to Heathrow free of charge,what a Star!

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Incorporated in England, Registered Office:35, Tewkesbury Drive
,Ashwood Park,Bedworth, Warwickshire, CV12 9ST
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