No record but the crack was mighty

THE event went off with a bang and the crack was quite literally mighty.

And even though the attempt at breaking the world record for the greatest number of simultaneous Christmas cracker pulls didn’t reach the magic number, the beneficiaries of the festive frolics took away a lot more than paper hats and paper-thin jokes.

Some 460 people gathered at a wet and icy Hanover Quay in Dublin yesterday in an attempt to break the record and win €10,000 for the Simon Community courtesy of event sponsors, the Carphone Warehouse.

But a day earlier, in somewhat kinder conditions, 500 people in Britain had done exactly the same thing, so a Guinness Book of Records entry eludes the Irish contenders for this year.

Perhaps it was the spirit-lifting songs of the carol singers that accompanied the big pull or the comical scramble for the keyring and pencil sharpener missiles that followed, but Carphone Warehouse decided to donate the €10,000 to Simon anyway.

In addition, the retailer is donating all profits from its annual in-store gift wrapping service to the charity and will also give €1 for every new fan on its Facebook page until they hit 22,000.

Yesterday’s event was a novel break from the usual lunchtime sandwich queue for the many employees of the companies in Dublin’s financial district who took part.

Their efforts will help Simon continue its work in assisting homeless people and families.

The charity is experiencing record levels of demand for it services around the country with numbers sleeping rough in the capital alone up 26% this year.