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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Connor Lynch

Larne bonfire builders aim to break world record with this year's pyre

A group of bonfire builders in Larne are aiming to break the world record with their structure this year.

Last year the Craigyhill Bonfire made international news for their huge bonfire which ended up being the largest ever built in Northern Ireland at 286 pallets high. This smashed the previous record of 233.

This year they are planning to go even bigger with their pyre as they aim to break the world record by building one that is over 198ft tall.

Read More: Portadown castle bonfire will be 'something Northern Ireland has not seen before'

The bonfire currently stands at around 65ft, so the team will have a lot of work ahead of them in the coming weeks as they prepare for their July 11 celebrations.

Speaking to Belfast Live, bonfire builder David said: "After the success that we had with last year's bonfire we are aiming to go even bigger this year and attempt to break the world record for the tallest bonfire.

"We have been planning out what we need to do in order to break the record and if all goes well we could have one that is around 200ft tall.

"Last year our bonfire ended up being around 147ft tall, with 286 rows of pallets, but this would have been even bigger if some of the rows of pallets didn't break during construction.

"We have been fundraising and preparing for this year's structure since we finished last year and we put the first pallets on the ground on May 23. It is currently 65ft tall, but this has been building the base of the bonfire which is a lot stronger and wider than ones we have previously built as we learned from our experience last year what we need to do to ensure that it stays stable throughout the building process."

David said that the bonfire is already gaining as much attention that it got last year when television crews from around the world turned up to watch the pyre set alight.

He continued: "Television crews have already started getting in touch with us regarding the bonfire and asking if they are able to attend on the day to see it get lit.

"We have even had people contact us from Dublin who are keen to come up to the bonfire and learn about the heritage surrounding them and we are happy to welcome everyone to the site to join us.

"Due to the attention we are focusing a lot of attention on the surrounding events with our family funday and live music so we can put on a festival of culture to celebrate July 11 and 12.

"This year is going to be our biggest celebration yet and fingers crossed we will be able to top it all off by breaking the world record."

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