Kat Bailey, the 51-year-old owner of Balloonsforyou Oldham, has described herself as “counting her blessings” after a fire destroyed most of her business stock at Middleton Storage World. The blaze broke out around 5pm on 18 June, took firefighters days to extinguish, and left the building so badly damaged it is now being demolished.
Bailey started her balloon and event decoration business six years ago and moved into the warehouse unit two years ago, running it alongside a full-time job and single parenthood. The unit held stock for her balloon displays, T-shirt printing and leavers’ hoodies for local schools. The fire struck just as the school prom season, her busiest period, was getting under way, with four proms to supply that week, including Saddleworth High School, Newman RC College, Middleton Technology School and her own daughter’s prom at Crompton House.
Despite the loss, Bailey met every commitment. Kustom Props, which supplies light-up numbers, worked extra hours to replace stock, some schools adjusted their colour schemes to simplify orders, and her 82-year-old father, Geoff Bailey, pitched in to help. Leavers’ hoodies for St Matthew’s and St Mary’s in High Crompton survived only because they were stored in her work van at the time.
The business gained 600 new Facebook followers within three days of the fire. “I keep counting my blessings because all of my stuff, it’s replaceable,” Bailey said, “but it’s the people with all the sentimental stuff in there – it’s those stories that are the hardest.”
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Source: The Oldham Times.
