BALLOONIST Per Lindstrand insists he hasn't given up on his idea of offering tourists the view of a lifetime from a hot air balloon tethered 400 feet above York.

Great. But as our photos today reveal, he's hardly a pioneer.

These wonderful images, taken from the City of York Council's Imagine York website and the Ryedale Folk Museum's Hayes Collection, reveal ballooning was a big hit in York 100 years ago.

Ballooning was always a popular event at the Grand Yorkshire Gala, a yearly event held on Bootham Field.

Our first photo, taken by the great William Hayes, is a delightful picture of four young girls in Edwardian dress playing excitedly in the shadow of a tethered bal-loon. It was used to illustrate the 1908 Jubilee programme for the Gala.

Ballooning in those long-ago days was of-ten a risky business. Just look at the man hanging from a balloon high above the Gala fields. The photo was taken sometime in the 1910s, and proves the spirit of adventure is nothing new.

Another Daredevil was captain Harry Spencer. In our third photo, he is seen preparing his parachute alongside the balloon that, at the 1928 Gala, took him up to 1,000 feet. He then jumped out and parachuted back to earth.

Finally, it is back to 1908, and crowds gathered beside a tethered balloon. Balloon trips were hugely popular. "The mammoth", which was at the Gala in 1908, was a huge balloon with a capacity of 108,000 cubic feet.

Though it has to be said that the man in the foreground, who looks like some kind of minister, doesn't seem too impressed.

* Photos courtesy of the City of York Council's Imagine York website - www.imagineyork.co.uk - and the Ryedale Folk Museum's Hayes Collection.