Children celebrated the national year of communication with a balloon launch at Wandsworth Museum.

Actress Elizabeth McGovern, star of Downton Abbey and Once Upon a Time in America, joined the youngsters and officials at the Hello campaign event – organised by St George’s Healthcare community speech and language promotion and prevention team last Friday.

The balloons were released by children from day and community centres, West Hill Primary, Garret Park and St Cecelia’s schools.

Each balloon had a postcard attached to it with a one of the borough’s favourite words printed on it, some information about the campaign and a return address so the children can see which word travelled furthest.

Cuddles and hullabaloo have so far proved the most popular words.

Hello is a campaign run by the Communications Trust, which aims to increase understanding of how important it is for children and young people to develop good communication skills.

McGovern said: “It is a real joy for an actor when you feel that even just one person has understood the message you are trying to put across.

“Living without that joy that many of us take for granted must be like living in a very lonely prison.

“This campaign is helping to lead kids who struggle to be understood out of that prison.”