Poetry balloons travel 1,300 miles

A cluster of balloons released from Warrington Town Hall in celebration of National Poetry Day has landed over 1,300 miles away in Italy.

Poems written by young people from across Warrington, as well as local poets, were attached to the balloon cluster on 9 October 2003, which amazingly managed to stay together during its trip across Europe.

The cluster, put together by staff from Warrington library, landed in the garden of an English family's Tuscan holiday villa.

The Kelleher family's three children - Jack, 12, Tara, 10 and eight-year-old Liam from London - found the balloons in the garden of their villa near Florence.

Councillor David Keane of Warrington Metropolitan Borough Council said: "I never imagined that when the balloons were released that they would get further than the motorway, so I was amazed when I heard how far they had travelled."

He added: "I was even more amazed that the family were English - what a fantastic end to last year's poetry celebration."