Boy's first birthday balloon released from coast ends up in Germany

Ryan Carr let the helium balloon go from Whitburn on Saturday afternoon to mark his little boy Joshua turning one.

The balloon had a note attached to it with contact details on for Ryan in the hope that it would be found somewhere far away.

Expecting it to make it no more than 40 miles away or perhaps end up in the sea, Ryan and the rest of the family were left stunned when a family got in touch to say it had turned up Bechtrup, close to the German border with the Netherlands on Monday.

Speaking to the Gazette, Ryan, 28, a warehouse operative from South Shields, said: “Joshua has just turned one and with his helium balloon left I decided to make it a bit special by putting a note onto it and sending it off to see where it would end up.

“I set it off from Whitburn and was only expecting it to land roughly in Middlesborough, maybe Hull or the surrounding areas, or even get lost in the sea.

“Nevertheless I got a surprising message off a family that had found Joshua’s balloon and it hadn’t travelled 40 miles, but in fact 685 miles to a place in Germany called Bechtrup, which is north of Dortmund.

“I couldn’t believe it when the message came through.

“We are completely overwhelmed and amazed by what has happened.”

Ryan and Joshua’s mum Kirsty-Jo Parkin, 29, now plan to tell their little boy of the miraculous tale when he gets older.

“It’ll be something for him to remember for years to come,” added Ryan.

“Kirsty wouldn’t believe me when I said that I’d got a text message to say that someone had found it, so I had to screenshot it and show her it.

“We’re really grateful to the family for getting in touch. It’s very kind of them.”