Man hopes to claim Christmas singathon world record

A man is attempting to break the Guinness World Record for continuous singing of Christmas songs.

Dave Purchase, who runs a toasted sandwich cafe in Gloucester, is attempting to sing for 42 consecutive hours at the city's docks.

He has chosen 38 songs, which he will have to repeat 18 times each, starting from midnight on 10 December through to the evening of 12 December.

Mr Purchase, who will be joined at various times by choirs and dressed-up characters, said: "I really want to bring the world record to Gloucester, [and have] a real community event here."

Mr Purchase, who has worked at On Toast in Gloucester for 15 years, said he wanted to "try something mad" to help the docks attract trade.

"I've been practising since January, all the way through summer... anybody who passed my flat probably thought there was some nutcase in there," he said.

He began on time but had to re-start at 00:30 due to a technical fault.

Helping Mr Purchase through the singathon is a dementia choir and a children's choir.

To "keep him awake", members of the public will be arriving dressed as characters and singers linked to well-known Christmas songs – including the Wombles and Mariah Carey.

To abide by the world record rules, each hour, Mr Purchase can have only a five-minute break. He has the option to sing continuously for four hours to earn a 20-minute break.

Between each song he can take a break of just 20 seconds.

He said he will have two time keepers with him at any one time and will be filmed with a clock next to him.

The tradesman added that the team helping him "have been brilliant, they have been working tirelessly... without them I couldn't have done this".

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