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Wednesday August 20 General Briefing is a meeting that the Competition Director holds for competitors and competition officials at the very beginning of a balloon competition. It is opened with a roll call: the Director calls out names of all pilots he expects to be present, and they answer if they are. After that the last pieces of general competition information is given, and explained if necessary. Among my earliest ballooning memories,
almost 20 years back, is a General Briefing of a big competition
where the first item after roll call was standing in silence for the
memory of balloonists who had died in accidents during the previous
year. With heavy heart and halting voice I had to begin my General Briefing
in Viljandi the same way. Most participants knew Alo from previous Estonian
events. In our thoughts Keila-Viljandi Cup had turned to Alo Sirp Memorial.
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| OPENING CEREMONIES TOOK PLACE IN THE MAIN HALL OF VILJANDI CULTURE CENTER. |
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Valdur had left for a rescue mission to the border between Estonia and Latvia, where border guards had forbidden one competitor to bring his car in the country. Before leaving he had given me a sheet of paper with a comment that as the announcer of the opening ceremonies (replacing him) I must know what is in the program. Well, there is first time to everything. Leino Mägi, at present Member
of Parliament and formerly mayor of Keila, spoke shortly about the short
history of ballooning in Estonia. As he spoke in Russian, the lingua
franca of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian people, I do not know what
he said. In case he was too modest I mentioned in English that Leino
is the one man force that makes other Estonians to have faith
in balloons. |
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| CULTURE CENTER WAS BUILT IN 1953, THE YEAR STALIN DIED. THE WORK OF A LOCAL ARCHITECT JOHANNES FUKS SHOWS THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE TO PLEASE STALIN AND GOOD TASTE AT THE SAME TIME. |
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Ago Kokser, the present mayor of Keila, spoke next. According to my paper the mayor of Viljandi, Malle Vahtra, was to do the opening. Instead it was done by another lady, the Viljandi education and culture director Kadrin Mändmaa. She begun in Estonian and finished in Russian.  |
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| VILJANDI OLD MUSIC ENSEMBLE PLAYED TUNES FROM TIMES BEFORE ALL FLYING MACHINES. |
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In short: the opening ceremonies took place in a very cultured atmosphere, and not the least because they began and ended with splendid music making by Viljandi Old Music Ensemble. And there were some refreshments in the side room. [FIRST FLIGHT] [ALL DAYS] |