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A birthday balloon let off from Sheerness in September has made the news in Germany.
The inflatable, which had heart-warming handwritten messages on it, was discovered 476 miles away in Gummersbach – 31 miles east of Cologne.
It was released by Eleanor Richardson, 29, who lives in Sheerness with her partner Aarron.
Ever since she lost her nan, Ann Howard, in 2012, and then her dad, Nigel Richardson, who died after a freak accident at Olympic Glass Products in Queenborough, in 2018 , Eleanor has released a balloon on her birthday – September 27 – so that they could still be part of her day.
The mother-of-two said: “It’s something I’ve done every year. I just write a note to say: ‘Because you can’t be with me for my birthday, I’ll send a part of my birthday to you. I miss you XOXO Eleanor Richardson, Sheerness’.
“This year, I released it a few days after my birthday, at the canal, close to our home. I didn’t think anything else of it.”
But, on Thursday, October 22, Eleanor received a message from a woman, called Caroline Robinson in Germany, asking if she was Eleanor from Sheerness and if she had released a pink star-shaped balloon.
“To my amazement, she told me it was in Germany,” Eleanor said.
“She then sent a photo of a newspaper article about the balloon being found by a man and his dog. I was covered, head to toe, with goosebumps.
“Of all the years I’ve sent balloons, I’ve never had a response. I was mind-blown, I still cannot believe it went so far.”
Eleanor’s balloon was found on a balcony in Gummersbach by a dog called Otto.
Otto’s owner, Andreas Marcel, wanted to get in touch with the sender so he put an appeal in his local newspaper.
Caroline had seen the article and, after doing some digging on Facebook, found Eleanor. She has since had a video call with Caroline, Andreas and the newspaper reporter.
“Everyone was lovely and it’s something I will not forget,” Eleanor said.
“I’m now waiting to receive the balloon, with a letter from Andreas. I’m going to keep it as a keepsake.
"The world is mainly water so how the hell it landed on a balcony in Germany, I will never know.”
