A BALLOON released to mark the opening of Okehampton?s new hospital made it all the way to Holland, comfortably winning the race to see which would travel furthest.

With the passing of the deadline of August 1, the announcement has been made that the winning balloon belongs to 13-year-old Emma Comfrey, of Okehampton, who wins a £50 prize.

The finder?s prize of £25 will have to be converted into euros and sent to the Maalderink family of Toldyk, Netherlands.

Ninety labels were returned to the organisers, but Emma?s was the only one from outside England. It got there in 24 hours following the launch of 1,105 balloons from the hospital grounds at the unofficial opening ceremony on May 22.

All the other balloons were found in an area stretching from Honiton to near Gatwick Airport in Sussex.

Jenny Reynolds, one of the organisers said: ?A really heartwarming feature of many of the letters and cards received with the labels were the good wishes sent to the new hospital and the requests to put the prize money into the appeal fund if the sender won it. One gentlemen even sent a donation!?

Organisers also heard back from the teacher of a class of primary school children near Winchester, who said the children had a lot of fun writing about finding the balloon. The teacher said it had been a great help in stimulating their writing skills.