HELP CRACK THIS WORLD RECORD!
Participants are sought on the quayfront in Wexford on Thursday, December 22 for a new Guinness World Record attempt with a festive theme - the longest Christmas Cracker chain.
The cracker-pulling event is organised by Wexford Winterland Festival to celebrate the Guinness Book of Records’ link to Wexford which was dreamed up in 1950 by Sr. Hugh Beaver, Managing Director of the Guinness Brewery while attending a shooting party locally.
The current Christmas cracker record is held by a school in the UK which managed to create a chain of 1081 crackers.
Brian Byrne, managing director of Lantern.ie, the company behind Winterland, has 1,584 crackers at the ready for Wexford’s record-breaking attempt.
The idea is to form a continuous chain along the quayfront with each participant holding two crackers, one in each hand, with all the crackers being pulled simultaneously along the line.
‘I have 1,584 crackers bought. I literally have a truckload of boxes. They are being held at a secret location. I bought them in bulk from a supplier I knew from my toy shop days. I got them fairly cheap but they’re good ones,’ he said.
Adults and children are invited to take part and participants will be free to keep the contents of the crackers.
The event is being supported by Wexford County Council in an effort to promote the county’s historical connection with the Guinness Book of World Records.
Brian said the plan is to hold a different type of world record-breaking attempt every year during the Winterland Festival with his ultimate aim being to smash the current 3,500 record for the most people wearing Christmas jumpers in one location.
People are also encouraged to wear their Christmas jumpers on December 22 when everyone will gather on the quayfront at 6 pm. Cllr. George Lawlor will be the MC and Corner Boy will play before and after the great cracker pull. There are strict rules governing a record attempt with independent witnesses and photographic evidence required. Brian said drone footage will be taken of the Wexford event. Lord Beaver came up with the idea for the Guinness Book of World Records after missing a shot at a golden plover while shooting along the River Slaney and becoming involved in an argument over which was the fastest game bird in Europe, the plover or the red grouse. That evening, staying in Castlebridge House, he discovered it was impossible to confirm the answer in a reference book and realised that a publication which supplied the answer to this sort of question might be successful. The idea became a reality when Guinness employee Christoppher Chataway recommended university friends Norris and Ross McWhirter who were running a fact-finding agency in London at the time.
The twin brothers were commissioned to compile what became the Guinness Book of Records in August 1954. The book has gone on to become a record breaker in its own right with sales of more than 100 million copies in 100 different countries and 37 languages.