Hospiscare sets Guinness World Record for cream tea

Volunteers and staff from Hospiscare have eaten their way into the record books after 403 people sat down to a cream tea in the Great Hall at the University of Exeter, beating the previous Guinness World Record of 334.

The charity, which provides end-of-life care for local patients and their families, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year with a series of special events and the tea party, which was generously hosted by the University, was the idea of Paula Lawford and Jessica Macan, of Exeter Friends of Hospiscare, and took six months of planning.

“The volunteers and staff at Hospiscare work so hard, so it is nice to be able to say thank you,” Paula Lawford, the chairman of the Friends, said. “And it is such a lovely occasion because they have been able to bring their families and friends along too. So often on events we are limited by space and finance, so we are incredibly grateful to the University, who provided a team of helpers, the hall and the food for the record attempt.”

Everyone began pouring cups of tea and eating their scones, jam and cream, and the entire process was recorded and independently witnessed, in order to send all the supporting documentation off to Guinness for final ratification.

“The University was delighted to host Hospiscare’s world record-breaking attempt.   Our award winning chefs baked over 400 scones for the event and we had lots of staff volunteers helping out on the day as well,” said Wendy Courtney, the University’s assistant director of business support.  “The atmosphere in the Great Hall was wonderful and we are delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile local charity.” Hospiscare would like to thank Campus Services, all the chefs - Danek, Aaron, Paul, Richard, Dave, Nicky and Rob - and Graham Moncur at the University, as well as Riverford Farm Dairy (clotted cream), 3663 (jam), Sunlight Textile Services (tablecloths), Warwick (PA system) and Fresh Ideas (napkins) for all their help and support, without whom this record attempt would not have been possible.