Hundreds of people atempt to beat Bournmouth in a bid to stage the biggest Conga on a pier during British Tourism Weeks, party on the pier

It was an attempt to put Cromer on the map and walk away with a world record and Cromer very nearly did it

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Cromer Pier, as part of the British Tourism Week ‘Party on the Pier’ event attempted to break the world record for the number of people performing the conga on a pier on Saturday .

They were in direct competition with Bournemouth Pier, with Cromer the underdog in the battle as the town’s population of 8,000 is more than 20 times smaller than Bournemouth’s 165,000.

Cromer managed to beat off the competition at first - with 235 people taking part in the North Norfolk town compared to 210 in Bournemouth, but over on Brighton Pier, where another conga on the pier attempt was taking place, the numbers there totalled more than 2,000, meaning Cromer was piped to the post.

But Cromer was the first town to hold the world record.

Openwide Coastal runs both the Cromer and Bournemouth piers. Bruce Stratton spokesman for the group who oversaw the events in Cromer, said: “We are really delighted, it was always a gamble, but it has paid off especially as we have had good weather today.”

Penny Coleman, who is in her 30s and from Cromer, took part in the event with her son Ben Pearse, 8 and friend Moira Barratt, also in her 30s, and her son Kalam Barratt, 8.

She said: “We support Cromer in everything, so we decided to come along today, we also really wanted to beta Bournemouth.”

Keeping people entertained were local dance school Marlene’s School of Dancing, who lead the conga dance.

Great Yarmouth’s Wellington Pier also joined in the fun with majorettes, magic, clowning and balloon modelling as well as jazz music.

Nationally, Party on the Pier will launch 2011 British Tourism Week and will spearhead more than 200 special tourism events over the next few days.

Thirty six of the nation’s 55 seaside piers are taking part in Party on the Pier Event, which aims to create a celebration of Britain’s piers and heritage, encouraging residents and tourists to visit and highlighting the importance of maintaining the country’s piers, restoring those that are in need of help.