HUNDREDS of youngsters linked up with Children in Need’s Pudsey Bear to break a world record for the longest “walking bus” yesterday.

Nearly 2,000 people took part in Newmarket – beating the record by more than 600 and at the same time raising money for charity.

It was idea of Olive Millington, headteacher at the town’s Laureate Primary School. She organised the gathering of seven primary schools, two play groups and students from Newmarket College to meet in the college grounds for yesterday’s event.

The children came from Laureate, Houldsworth Valley, Ditton Lodge, All Saints St Louis, Exning and Paddocks Primary Schools, and Colour Box and Stepping Stones Play Schools.

They smashed the previous record of 1,346, with every one of them paying �1 to take part, resulting in nearly �2,000 being raised for Children in Need.

“We’ve had great support for the day with lots of help from the community,” said the headteacher.

Helping to ensure all went smoothly were four police officers and 50 volunteers from the USAF air bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath, who acted as marshalls. There was also support from Orwell Vans and Trucks and Ridgeons, who sponsored the armbands and reflective sashes respectively.

Gerry Sexton, headteacher at Paddocks, said: “It was all down to Olvie who did a fantastic job organising it – to make it happen and putting all the effort in to make it work.

“It went really well and was well organised. I think we must have smashed the world record out of sight.”