COLERNE Sea Scouts, Beavers and Cubs are hoping to make history by breaking the Guinness World Record for laying a mile long trail of one pence coins in the fastest time.

More than 84,400 pennies have been collected weighing around 48 stone and on June 6 there will be between 30 and 40 youngsters working together to beat the record that stands at two hours 16 minutes and nine seconds.

The record attempt is taking place at the Signal Regiment Barracks in the village and will come under the watchful eye of two officials and a number of independent witnesses. Parents, supervisors and the Scout committee will also be on hand to help and the president of 1st Colerne Sea Scout Peter Wilson will blow the whistle to start proceedings.

Group leader of 1st Colerne Sea Scouts James Bicknell says they have worked out a team of eight people will have to lay 11 coins per second in a continuous line to break the record.

He said: “All the children are incredibly excited about the challenge and they really want to become the penny laying record holders. We are applying brains as well as brawn as in the rules there is no criteria on how you physically put the coins down.”

Engineer Geoff Bicknell from Colerne has designed a penny dropper gadget that is gravity fed and relies on the friction of laying the coins on tape and they are hoping this will be their secret weapon.

The children have spent the last few months putting in hours of practise and completing workshops, devising a logical plan and Mr Bicknell is confident they can break the record.

He added: “In many ways we can already say this event is a huge success for us. We have raised our coins ready for the challenge which will be reinvested into the Scout Group at Colerne to improve our equipment for the children.

“The penny mile has become a huge community event with lots of people, local businesses, the church and the village pubs all collecting for us. If we do break the record it is largely due to the whole community getting behind us to support us."