Bahrain yesterday (December 24) broke a world record for the most number of people planting flowers simultaneously, a report said.

Eight hundred schoolchildren planted 40,000 red and white petunias within 11 minutes in a floral tribute to His Majesty King Hamad, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

The arrangement spelled out Al Malik Hamad (King Hamad) and was part of Bahrain's National Day celebrations, which was organised by the Municipalities and Urban Affairs Ministry.

Awareness

Present at the event, which was held at the Awali Roundabout, were Municipalities and Urban Affairs Minister Dr Juma Al Ka'abi, Guinness World Records Middle East and North Africa project manager Samer Khallouf, and government officials.

"Bahrain has entered the Guinness World Records, an achievement that we hope to repeat in the future with more extraordinary numbers," Dr Al Ka'abi told the GDN.

"The name of the King is dear to our hearts, and we wanted to emphasise the agricultural aspect. We wanted to reaffirm the importance of planting and agriculture in beautifying areas and entering the Guinness World Records from the aspect of cultivation."

He said the initiative aimed to encourage the public to take to their own gardens to plant more greenery and flowers.

"We have several programmes encouraging gardening, including a palm tree for every house, planting public areas and raising awareness in the public," he said.

"When they see their sons and daughters taking part today, hopefully everyone will be encouraged to plant around the country."

Khallouf confirmed to the GDN that the record was officially broken. "It is official, with 800 participants, Bahrain is the record holder for most people planting flower bulbs simultaneously," he said.

"The previous record held in the UK was with only 636 participants, so [Bahrain has] exceeded that with about 170 more people.

"This is the fourth record for Bahrain, last month there was a record registered as well, for the largest special edition magazine. It's picking up and hopefully you'll have more in the future.

"Organising participants is not an easy task. They had to finish all of it in one hour, but they managed to do it in 11 minutes, that was impressive."

Southern Area Municipality director-general Adem Abdullatif said the initiative involved the co-operation of several government bodies, including the Interior Ministry, Works Ministry, Information Affairs Authority and Southern Governorate.

"The minister created a committee which co-operated with the relevant parties in order to get the participants," he said.

"They were all from grade four to six. It was definitely difficult to control so many children, but the Southern Municipality had its employees handle it with help from teachers from the Education Ministry."
He said the arrangement will stay up until the Formula One in April. – TradeArabia News Service