THREE new World Records were set by staff from James Hay Partnership in Salisbury.

The pensions and investments company held a World Record day, aiming to be the best in three fun-filled capers.

The record for catching and keeping the most water balloons in a minute was broken twice in the afternoon, firstly by Gareth Dobson and Jon Cummings, who caught and kept 12 balloons, only for it to be broken minutes later by Russ Church and Amanda Purnell with 13.

The previous record for the fastest 20- metre bottom walk was 1 minute 39 seconds, achieved by Johanna Jernberg at the World Trade Centre in Barcelona in 2010.

But it was smashed by Harriet Pickrell who completed the challenge in 1 minute and 4 seconds.

Other record attempts – to eat a jam doughnut with no hands without licking lips, bursting balloons by sitting on them in 30 seconds and the fastest time to sort 30 coloured buttons by hand – were unsuccessful, but staff had lots of fun trying.

Guinness World Records adjudicator Tom Ibison was present to oversee the record attempts. “It was great to see three Guinness World Records titles broken,” he said. “We found some truly talented people at the event hosted by James Hay Partnership. An enthusiastic crowd cheered on all the record attempts and their support certainly played a role in the record breakers achieving success.”