CHORLEY Help The Homeless has had its coffers inflated by more than £500 after a charity balloon race held in Summer.

The results of the race have just come through and staff at the charity were amazed at how far their efforts to raise funds stretched - one balloon made it all the way to Holland!

Project manager Michael Carter said a total of 407 balloons were released on August 25, all bearing labels with the name and address of the sponsor to write to when they finally landed.

Balloons cost £1 to launch and many people donated extra for the good cause.

By October 31 a total of 52 labels had been returned. Mr Carter said: "Two gave up quickly and only made it as far as Heskin and Rivington, but most of them persevered and we got some pretty astounding results.

"One crossed the sea to Belgium and another turned up in the net of a fishing trawler off the Dutch coast!

The last one to be found came from Yorkshire where the balloon was found on October 20."

But the winner was one of three indestructible inflatables which managed to cross the channel all the way to Holland, launched by a Mrs Anne Ashworth, of from Cobden Street, Chorley, who got the winning prize of £25.

Mr Carter went on to thank the Citizen for our help in supporting Help The Homeless. He said the sum of £522 will be added to that of a charity auction held last month.

He said: "The article in The Citizen ensured we had a good turn out and the twin brothers John and Bernard Brown, who were joint auctioneers, did such a good job that we raised an impressive £869."

And chairman of the Help The Homeless, Mrs Edith Crook, said: " We are over the moon at the money raised. We couldn't believe how well both events went and our organisation is extremely grateful to all those who helped us."