There were plenty of paper hats being donned at the UK HQ for Vodafone in Newbury earlier this month following a successful attempt for the longest Christmas cracker pulling chain record.

Organised to support the Text Santa charity campaign which Vodafone has been helping to facilitate, participants were made up of members of staff from the telecoms firm who were all in festive spirits ahead of the attempt.

Under the record guidelines, those taking part had to form one continuous chain with their arms crossed, with every participant holding a cracker in each hand apart from the two participants at the start and at end of the line. The crackers being used also had to be commercially available.

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Once all the participants were in place and had been counted, it was time for the Guinness World Records attempt to start. In order to qualify, all participants would have to simultaneously pull their crackers in an unbroken chain, making sure that all crackers had snapped, before they could disperse.

As it was the first time this Guinness World Records title had been attempted, a minimum target of 250 partakers had been set.

The final total easily surpassed the required benchmark, with an impressive 566 crackers simultaneously popped in an unbroken chain, bringing some welcome Christmas cheer to all those who took part.