Pictures and video: An air of excitement over Lindstrand Balloons auction

The company – the name relinquished by ballooning adventurer Per Lindstrand 12 years ago – folded in April.

Today hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of equipment from the Oswestry factory was going under the hammer.

Everything from balloons and manufacturing equipment to the canteen benches and tables and even the kettle and microwave, were being sold on behalf of the liquidators by auctioneers Harry Ray.

On the eve of the auction scores of people called into the factory on the Mile Oak Industrial Estate to cast an eye over the 367 items that they could bid for.

They included the biggest balloon built at the factory, a balloon in the shape of a motorbike which is more than 100 feet tall, as well as other balloons, baskets and vehicles.

There was also factory and office equipment and ballooning memorabilia.

Jim Mason, one of the auctioneers, said there had been a massive response to the auctions, not just in Britain but internationally.

"We have had inquiries from across the globe," he said. "The ballooning world is a very tight-knit one and I think we have had just about everyone from the world of ballooning taking an interest.

"We have had inquiries from America, Europe and the Middle East as well as from all over Britain – from the large companies to the individuals.

"This auction is very different to many, because it involves a very specialist industry yet one with a very broad range of equipment.

"We don't just have balloon equipment going under the hammer. There are the sewing machines that made the balloon envelopes and upholstery for the baskets, for example, and there is also the engineering equipment that was used in balloon making.

"Then, of course, there are the vehicles and the transporters needed for ballooning.

"The most interesting lot has to be the biggest balloon that has ever been made here. The motorcycle balloon, which is well over 100 feet high, towers above its purpose-built transporter.

"I understand it cost £100,000 to create. It will be very interesting to see how much it sells for at the auction."

Mr Baines said that despite the sadness of the loss of the company, auctions were exciting. "There is an air of excitement, but there is also an air of sadness because it seems that, at least for the present time, that this is the end of balloon making in Oswestry," he said.

Mr Lindstrand, who now specialises in tethered HiFlyers and SkyFlyers and inflatable buildings at his Lindstrand Technology headquarters, has already started hiring some of the 19 workers who lost their jobs and says he is going back into balloon making.

But he is unlikely to buy equipment at the auction.