All for a good clause

Having wrestled with dozens of ridiculous hat-related puns a sub editor in The Sun would be proud of, my piece on the santa hat world record attempt in Mullingar on Sunday was given the 'All for a good clause' treatment by the Indo. I was fond of 'Hat's magic' and 'hat's the way to do it' myself, but sure what can you do...

Anyway, delighted with the coverage the day got. In the run-up, the good people on Will Leahy show on 2fm were brilliant, as were the regional stations I spoke to. I had pieces in a few other papers and James Flynn's pics popped up in a few more, but the Indo devoted nearly half a page to it was the icing on the cake. Much better than writing about hospital closures, car crashes and the grim reaper...

All for a good Claus... Santa and 700 helpers break world record

SANTA Claus and his pals were busy trying to break records over the weekend.

In Mullingar, a new world record was set for the most people gathered in one place wearing Santa hats.

Over 700 residents braved adverse weather conditions as they assembled in the town centre wearing the distinctive seasonal headgear.

At 3pm, as the music of the late Mullingar music icon Joe Dolan rang out across the streets of the Co Westmeath town, an adjudicator declared that the town was officially a record-breaker. The previous world record was set last year in the city of Brockton, Massachusetts where 507 people donned Santa hats. The attempt was part of a day-long seasonal celebration in the town.

Proceeds from the sale of the Santa hats went to the Lions Club Christmas food appeal.

Meanwhile, Santa roped in his entire extended family -- including the most distant relatives -- to drive more than 150 tractors through the border town of Belleek, Co Fermanagh on Saturday to get their attempt into the Guinness Book of Records.

The parade of Santa-driven tractors was held to coincide with the switching on of the Christmas lights in the town on Saturday. Organisers plan to send television footage of the parade along with signed documentation to the Guinness Book of Records.