SPONSORED HULA HOOP

MEDIA COVERAGE ADDS TO THE FUN OF THE

HULA HOOP EXTRAVAGANZA!!

Eric Crockart with his cameraman at the end of their visit to Markethill  School to record video footage and a radio interview.

Markethill PTA had a very successful day on Friday 25th May, 2001 with our 'Sponsored Hula-Hoop' event held in the school grounds.

On a lovely sunny day over 500 children and possibly up to 50 or 60 adults spread themselves across the school playground and sports field to take part in a MASS HULA HOOP.

At 11.00am the fun sponsored event took place with everyone trying to hula hoop along to music from S CLUB 7. Hundreds of parents, relatives and friends of pupils turned up to watch the spectacle - the first at Markethill where all pupils took part in the same activity at the same time as everyone else - except for when they are all inside working!!

Jim Leighton with the Northern Representative of Childline Scotland.

Jim Leighton, ex Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper, was on hand to cheer everyone on and act as a representative of Childline Scotland. He also spent much of his time surrounded by eager pupils, and ADULTS, asking for his autograph. He quiet happily did this but was sorry that he could not provide his autograph for everyone! One Mum even asked him to autograph her tummy!!

After the fun event was over the serious work of trying to set a new world record took over. The aim - to see how many people we could get to HULA for TWO minutes CONTINUOUSLY  to hopefully establish a new WORLD RECORD for MARKETHILL SCHOOL.

Jim Leighton blew the airhorn to set off all the keen hula hooper's who wished to take part in the attempt. People held their breath as they eagerly waited for the two minutes to be up. This is a very long time when you are trying to keep a hoop swinging round for two minutes!

Some of the mums who took part in our hula hoop event!

Independent scrutineers were on hand from the local Rotary Club to make sure that we followed all the rules and regulations set by the 'Guinness World Record' team. Our thanks go to Mr Ferguson, Mr Greig and Mr Lumsden for their help and support.

Eventually Jim Leighton blew the airhorn again to signal the end of the 2 minutes. After many checks and re-counting a total of 202 pupils and adults had lasted the two minutes.

Because of the fun everyone was having and the nice weather we decided to try a second attempt to see if we could better the first one! At the end of the second attempt we had 179 people listed for the two minutes.

Hula-Hoopers in full swing! They are round in the playground as well
behind the school!!

Both sets of names, along with video footage, pictures, letters of verification and any other evidence we can provide will be sent off soon to the Guinness Book of Records for them to verify. Hopefully this will result in MARKETHILL SCHOOL being presented with a certificate to state that we hold a world record for MASS HULA HOOPING!

Our thanks must go to everyone who helped to make this event such a success. At present  we have raised well over £2000 from sponsor money and this will be split between the PTA and Childline Scotland.

We would also like to express our thanks to Jim Leighton for coming out and helping to make the children's day by being there. He was very supportive, friendly and a great ambassador for Childline Scotland.

Mr Jenkins being interviewed by the presenter of North Tonight -
and still managing to hula!! He felt really silly!!!

Finally we would like to thank all the media for the great coverage they gave us in the run up to the event and after the event. Our list of 'hits' includes:

Radio Scotland Morning News - 2-3 minute interview by Eric Crockart.

Reporting Scotland, BBC 1 News - A short piece advertising the event and showing the pupils and two 'wobbly staff' hula hooping in the playground.

North Tonight - Grampian News at 6:00pm - A full report by their local reporter with video footage and interviews with pupils.

Radio 5 Live 'Drive Programme' - Their national news programme from 4:00 - 7:00pm every day - Live interview regarding the event and why we were trying this!

Press coverage - The Turriff Advertiser
                          The Press & Journal
                          The Glasgow Herald
                          The Daily Record

We certainly managed to get our 15 minutes of fame. Thanks must go to the joint secretaries of the PTA for all the 'advertising of the event' that they sent to all the different media companies.

First and foremost this was a fund raising event - but one that the children really enjoyed taking part in. We encouraged some healthy exercise and fun and also set a large challenge to everyone to learn how to keep a hula hoop aloft for two minutes or more. Reports of children hula-ing for 45 minutes have been frequent!

A big THANK YOU must go to everyone for all their support, help and effort in organising and taking part in this event.

Everyone enjoying the fun of hula-ing in the nice weather!

No record exists at present for this category for the number of people hula hooping continuously for two minutes at the same time.

We have been selling hula hoops by the hundred as pupils get ready for the big attempt! Staff, pupils and parents are all working hard to perfect their technique - but to varying degrees of success!

The PTA are raising funds to help improve the outside environment of the school this session. We hope to be able to provide benches, games and other items to help brighten up the playground.

Part of the money raised will go to 'CHILDLINE SCOTLAND' to help them continue their work in counselling children that phone for help and advice on problems they are encountering.

The local 'celebrity representative' of childline is Jim Leighton, the ex-Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper. He has agreed to come along and help start the proceedings! We are delighted that he has agreed to do this and hopefully his presence will attract in plenty of attention.

With a bit of luck we may also have a healthy press and television coverage on the day. We are hoping that cameras from one of the local news programmes will come along and cover the event. There has also been some interest from a well known radio programme as well in our little venture!

We hope that everything will go well - and that the weather will be kind to us. So why not get your hula hoop out and start practising - it is also a great form of keep fit! You spend half of your time bending up and down picking it up off the floor to start again!!!