The Girl Guides attempted to break the previous record of 117 040 bottle caps.
In the end they managed 121 600 caps on 2km of string but this still needs to be verified by the Guinness World Records before they are added to the book. The Girl Guides have submitted their documents and are awaiting the outcome.
The event was also part of a drive to collect plastic bottle caps for recycling to raise funds for Operation Smile, an NPO which provides surgery to those born with cleft lips and cleft palates.
Lauren Bright, country manager of Operation Smile South Africa, said the event was a good way to get the community engaged in their fund-raising.
“The money that is raised from the recycled bottle tops enable us to give cleft and palate surgery to children and adults in rural and marginalised areas,” said Ms Bright
Before the event the Girl Guides collected over 1 million bottle caps with support of the community, Operation Smile SA and Fair Cape Dairies.
Tanya Prinsloo, event co-ordinator and director of Girl Guides Cape West region, said that apart from promoting the function of Girl Guides, the world record attempt would help put smiles back on children’s faces.
Approximately 280 Girl Guides working in eight different shifts of 35 girls a shift were hard at work last week to break the record.
Zoe Prinsloo,15, from the Bothasig Girl Guides, said: “It is amazing, a lot has gone into it, obviously with my mom being a organiser, it is a lot of stress on me, I have bottle caps coming out of my ears, there is a lot of preparation.”
Girl Guides are members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) – a movement in which girls and women promise to do their best to their God and to their country.
It is a uniformed organisation geared towards guiding girls to a confident future and allowing them to do tasks to the best of their ability. For details about Girl Guides in Mitchell’s Plain, call Silversands District Commissioner, Michelle Cleophas, on 083 413 0006.
