Ready teddy go for college's record bid
A Norfolk school looks set to make its way into the record books after creating the longest human teddy bear chain.Staff and pupils at Wymondham College believe they have smashed the existing record but must now wait for official verification.
A Norfolk school looks set to make its way into the record books after creating the longest human teddy bear chain.
Staff and pupils at Wymondham College believe they have smashed the existing record but must now wait for official verification.
Yesterday 662 staff and pupils held hands with 662 teddy bears in a giant chain around the school's playing field in a bid to make it into the Guinness Book of Records and raise money for the Bryan Gunn leukaemia charity. The record previously stood at 631 people and 630 teddy bears.
The school said the record attempt was a success, despite a hiccup which could have spelled disaster - a lack of bears.
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History teacher Daniel Keates, whose Year 10 form group organised the event for a young enterprise project, said: “At one point we thought it was all going to end in tears. We had got hold of every bear we could lay our hands on, but we had a crisis once we got to 578 and everything ground to a halt.
“Luckily a member of staff, who lives on the site, said that she had some bears at home. She and two students dashed off to her house and came back with about 60 more bears.” He added: “This was basically for a young enterprise project for my form group. The remit was to organise some sort of fundraising or awareness-raising event.
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“The group wanted to break a world record and came up with this idea. A lot of hard work has gone into this and they deserve the credit. I am really proud of everyone involved.”
Mr Keates said the teddy bear record seemed appropriate for the school, which caters for both boarding and day pupils.
“I think the children felt that it would be quite apt to have teddies,” he said. “We have a lot of teddies here because we have children staying away from home, most for the first time. We also like to promote a community feel here.
“Everybody including the principal got involved. We are hoping to raise £662 as it was £1 for every teddy bear, but we haven't calculated the final figure yet.”
Mr Keates said that pupils came out by year group and were directed where to stand. They held hands with the bears for one minute before throwing them up in the air.
