A Balloon released from a York primary school in aid of Comic Relief caused a diplomatic problem for the person who found it...in Norway!

GLOBE TROTTER: Holly Cussons, aged 10, a pupil at Badger Hill School, whose balloon travelled across the North Sea, and was found in Norway

The red balloon was one of 156 released by Badger Hill Primary School children on Comic Relief Day and it ended up in the Norwegian town of Meraker near Trondheim in the north of the country. The person who found it contacted the Norwegian Embassy in Britain after the language barrier got in the way of his attempt to speak to the school's secretary over the phone.

Jane Duke, who organised the event, said: "We thought it was a wind-up at first.

"We had a phone call purporting to be from Norway and then the tags all started coming through in the post.

"The secretary at school was somewhat baffled and taken aback at first when she heard this Norwegian accent on the other end of the line."

The Embassy then got in touch to find out the details of the balloon race and the Norwegian man sent a letter in English soon afterwards.

Mrs Duke said: "We hadn't even put UK on the address because we hadn't really expected them to go that far, but it was written in English so he must have worked it out for himself."

Other balloons ended up in similarly far-flung locations. A second tag was returned from Norway, two from Sweden and one from Germany.

The rest of the balloons landed in Burnholme and surrounding area.

The winner of the competition was year five pupil Holly Cussons, who will be rewarded with a Comic Relief mug.

The balloon race raised more than £250 for the charity.

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