We have lift off!

Trade Five : Front-of-house X Factor tickets for Spaceflight!

"Space, the final frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise..."

Growing up, these words sent me scurrying to my lounge to sit cross-legged, a little too close to the television. I'm sure that during one episode my dad even said: 'I'll never go into space son, but perhaps one day you might, or your kids'. It was a suggestion that left me literally starry-eyed. I don't think spaceflight, not even voyages to near space, will ever lose that allure.

That's why I'm enormously proud to say we'll be attempting to do just that with the sixth swapper's (small) payload of choice, thanks to the technical knowledge of amateur space balloon expert Josh, from Surrey. In return for sending something into near space, Josh will get the two front-of-house X Factor Live tickets donated by NetMums.

Don't take my word for how good Josh is. Watch this footage from the BBC below:

So if you're a band interested in sending your CD into space or an individual, organisation or company eager to discuss a similar idea, please step up for the next trade! This swap can even include taking part in the full experience of launch day if you wish. I know I'll be there. To discuss the opportunity of a lifetime, email OPH on onepinkhairclip@hotmail.co.uk

Now here's a note from Josh, OPH's new partner in spaceflight...

"A tweet brought together both Graham and I, Josh Taylor of JoshingTalk. Graham has been enthusiastically blogging about one of my projects; sending a space balloon high up into the atmosphere....118,000 feet high to give an exact estimate! All the info is here: http://www.joshingtalk.com A little chat over the phone had us both brimming with ideas on a trade and, having always wanted to do this kind of project, I jumped at the chance to get involved!

First thing I did before talking to Graham, was have a good look in the dictionary for some exceptionally nice sounding words to use on the phone. I think I pulled this off (see blog post below) and Graham seems fairly confident that I have a good grip on this space balloon malarky.

My next project is another space balloon launch but with an artistic twist. We discussed the trade in depth and the offer is to advertise your company, brand or name on the payload as it reaches a huge height AND also, the opportunity to compose the music for the final Youtube video that I make!

It should be a great trade and with confidential negotiations, I feel that both traders could be in a great position to create awareness of what we're doing.

Exciting things are happening on both of our blogs and for good reasons too! It's wonderful to see so many people getting involved and I'm up certainly up for an enjoyable adventure....One Pink Paperclip is capable of providing that!

Keep an eye on both our blogs for more news....until then, let's trade!"

　

We salute you!

There's a number of irons in the fire at the moment at One Pink Hairclip HQ, but with none of these yet confirmed, it's probably best not to count our chickens until they've hatched!

So, instead, let's pay homage to some of the people who have been beavering away behind the scenes, raising awareness of this humble blog and the work of FSID, as well as offering swaps. Many of these people are complete strangers, who I may never meet, while others are close friends who, in recent months, have become even closer. Whoever they are, wherever they are, their offers of help are truly life-affirming.

So...
Victoria and her son Honu (which means 'little turtle'), who live on remote Easter Island and offered native Polynesian art as a trade - we salute you!
Mum-of-three, Jo, who emailed to say she owned literally nothing of value, but still wanted to offer her support - we salute you!
Rebecca whose father suggested he give up his precious Manchester United season ticket for one game - we salute you!
James, from Surrey, UK, who made the first offer of a "load of copper and scrap metal" from his house conversion - we salute you!
Nick, who claims to be a "frographer" (part frog, part photographer), who said he'd conduct a photo shoot for free as a swap - we salute you!
To the legion of twitter users who have been circulating news of this blog - we salute you!
@KerryBean73 and @Sabina_Pasokhy, who have tweeted scores of celebrities on behalf of @onepinkhairclip - we salute you!

The generous mum from Wales who offered to bake OHP "the mother of all giant cupcakes", either to swap or to eat - we salute you!

A special salute goes to one of this country's most popular baking bloggers, Hannah, from madewithloveby.me She offered to make one of her magical cakes as a trade. Hannah, who can bake cupcakes with hearts inside them - we salute you!

The list goes on but the story remains the same - people motivated my a desire to tackle cot death, a mystery 'syndrome' which claims one baby's life for virtually every day of the year in the UK.

In no 'developed' society should this ever be acceptable.

Seemingly healthy babies should never die - let alone have an unexplained death.

And our health professionals should not rest until they've found both a cause and a cure. 

Last, but not least, I salute you for your continued support,

Grahamx

Time to push the button...

One Pink Hairclip is now proud to display, to the right of this page, an FSID button. If you have a baby, or look after one for either friends or family, take a second to click on the button and follow the ‘looking after your baby’ link. There’s loads of info here, so get stuck in and let’s keep them safe.

PS...hello to our new friends visiting the site from Qatar ;-) Why not ping OPH an email...in fact wherever you are in the world, you're welcome to write to onepinkhairclip@hotmail.co.uk to say hello and tell me what you think.

Grahamx

News just in....and hello world!

Here's a quick rundown of what's in store on OPH today. I have now physically received the first trade - the 'flipping ladybug' from Kenley and her kids in Carlsbad California...and it is so cute!
I introduced the FLB to my OPH (picture above) and now the precious painted hair accessory will be despatched first class to the US and A.
I have two other rather large swapping negotiations going on at the moment and, trust me, I wish I could say more but, OPH is sworn to secrecy! Let's just say that an existing swapper and future swapper may benefit.

Last, but not least, a quick name check to the latest countries to tune in to the swapping frenzy. Hi to China, Pakistan, Israel and Uzbekistan. Oh and also Jordan, the country, not the well endowed UK model Katie Price. Big shout to Jersey also in the British Channel Islands where there's a big OPH following.
Don't forget. Get in touch wherever you are with your swaps! Onepinkhairclip@hotmail.com
Have a lovely day,

Grahamx

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We inch boldly closer to space...

I've just finished a phone conference with Josh, 21, from Surrey, who is the 'space balloon' expert I hope will be sending the next swapper's payload of choice into space.
I say 'conference' because it sounds dynamic and serious and, let's face it, you don't just 'chat' about spaceflight.
To be honest I hung up without really understanding half of what he said. The sentences were peppered with big words like 'telemetry', 'extrapolation' and 'helium'. But, what I could gather was that Josh is a very serious and focused young man and if anyone can realistically get our next swapper into space, by golly, it was him.
As he discussed the risks involved, my brain played The Dambusters theme tune and I imagined him smoking a pipe and jabbing it at a space map to emphasise his words.

Here's what I did understand. If this swap is agreed, blast off (float off?) will take place in Cambridge, UK, the space balloon and payload will hopefully rush up into the sky, brush the fringe of space at around 100,000 to 120,000 feet, it will pop and then return to earth for retrieval. Yep, if all goes to plan you could possibly have your (small) object of choice in space. Hopefully there will also be footage of the epic voyage and an as-yet, top secret experiment in which Josh will be "attempting to produce an artistic piece of work in near space". Beats me what that means too!
I won't kid you. The risks involved are not small. Cue The Dambusters...a bird may peck at the balloon, it could be shot down by an angry farmer or, heaven forbid, the Almighty, in all his infinite wrath, may strike down our impudent space balloon with a thunderbolt.

But hey, cheer up, them's the breaks!
No. Let us not dwell on the 'what ifs'. Let's allow Josh the space balloon expert to run through the 'telemetry', 'extrapolate' a possible arc of flight and source some 'helium'. Here's his website so you can see for yourself that he's the real deal:Joshingtalk.com.

As much as I'd like to rush this swap, just like love, you can't hurry spaceflight. (Sorry about the Phil Collins joke).

Yours in swapping and spaceflight,
Grahamx
Ps if you want to send a small object 100,000ft up only to have it plummet back to earth, please email me with the details of your trade onepinkhairclip@hotmail.co.uk

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Do we have a cosmonaut?

A quick lunchtime post to whet your appetites...

Delicate discussions are still in progress with Josh, from Surrey, regarding his offer of spaceflight (see post from yesterday).
It's like this – his girlfriend loves the swap we currently hold - front-of-house X Factor Live tickets - and with Valentine's Day coming up, sealing this swap could win him serious Brownie points.
Meanwhile, with this trade still to be sealed, we could already have someone interested in sending an object into space.
OPH doesn't want to count its chickens but the pace of this swapping is staggering! 

Stay tuned!

Graham 

The story behind OPH

Click here for an article from Netmums' website: http://netmumsblog.com/