The Burnley Express featured a photograph of a supposed UFO on our front page in August, prompting people to ask what the peculiar object in the sky really was.

Suggestions were made but the mystery floated away until just recently when a Stockport resident was startled by another enigmatic vision in the skies above Towneley Park.

So shocked was Mr Graham Baguley, of Romiley, Stockport, that he wrote to the Express about his visions of lights floating into the sky burning with orange and white lights before disappearing into the clouds.

Checking on the internet he discovered our August article on UFOs over Burnley and figured extra-terrestials may well be taking an interest in our town.

But on reading his letter in last Friday's Express, Cliviger woman Mrs Linda Derbyshire and her 13-year-old daughter Hannah could keep quiet no longer.

Housewife Mrs Derbyshire, of Thanet Lee Close, believed her family may be responsible remarkably for both sightings.

An embarrassed Mrs Derbyshire explained: "When we saw the photograph we had a chuckle to ourselves because we knew immediately the UFO was a helium balloon we had bought for Hannah's 13th birthday. It had floated away from our house but we kept quiet.

"Then on Valentine's Day, we had a sleep-over for Hannah and her friends where we released Chinese lanterns into the sky. We joked that we hoped people wouldn't think they were UFOs again and couldn't believe it when we read Friday's letter."