28575/1THE trip of a lifetime is waiting for five Melksham pensioners next week.

Kate Naismith, Pat Britton, Jean Clark, Don Taylor and Ruth Halliberton, who are all residents at Wharf Court and range in age from 70 to 77, are taking to the skies in a hot air balloon on Thursday.

The trip has been arranged by Touch-down Housing, owners of Wharf Court, as part of a 'magic moments' scheme.

Wharf Court manager Jill Bridges said: "The idea is to organise things that people have always wanted to do but never got around to. The theme is 'just because you have retired from work, it doesn't mean you have retired from life.'"

The pensioners will take off from the Christie Miller sports centre and fly over the town in a one-hour trip.

"They are absolutely thrilled to bits to be given the opportunity to do this," said Ms Bridges.

"It will depend on the wind but we are hoping to fly right over Melksham. It will be nice to see local landmarks from a totally different perspective."

It is the first time the retirement home has been involved in anything like this and, for the residents, it is the opportunity to do something in their retirement years they might not have had a chance to do before.

"They would have had kids or other responsibilities but now they are retired why not do something like this for themselves?"