WHEN little Lili Bellis launched a birthday balloon in Urmston little did she think it would be found in North East Germany.

Lili, of Winchester Road, set the balloon on its way on June 3, to celebrate her 9th birthday with her mum and eldest sister.

Lili's mum Sarah explained: "We had a bit of helium left, so on her birthday we filled the balloon up and attached a note to it asking the finder to share it on Facebook if it was found.

"To be honest, when we first released the balloon, we thought it had landed on the M60, and were surprised to find out it had made it way to Wasdow in Northern Germany, a distance of 771 miles."

The finder of the balloon was Conrad Muller, who found the balloon with the message still attached in a field last week, and 12 hours and 539 shares on Facebook later, Lili and her mum read about the find on an Urmston community Facebook website

Sarah added: "Social media is an amazing thing and when Lili heard it had been found she was absolutely gobsmacked. It's just amazing where it ended up and how the finder managed to track her down so quickly."

On Monday, Lili told her classmates at Davyhulme Primary School all about where her birthday balloon and how it had managed to fly hundreds of miles over the North Sea to land in the field.

Conrad told his Facebook followers: " A big thank you to everyone who shared this post. It was a balloon from little Lili's birthday; so she is really happy!"