Pine tree at the West Gate during the Tree Hug on 1st December.

A Record Attempt to stage the world’s largest tree hug, held on Sunday 1st December, has stormed past Forestry Commission England’s 702 tree huggers which is the official record currently cited by Guinness World Records, reaching a commendable 931 huggers. It has, however, fallen just 20 huggers short of a record claim still pending by the state of Oregon. Max Coleman helped organise the event in Edinburgh and was keen to thank all those who got involved:

“Edinburgh Botanics, Dawyck and Benmore contributed 511 of the hugs and we very grateful to all those who came along to help with the record attempt.”

Ten locations spanning the length and breadth of Scotland took part in the national attempt to set a new World Record for Tree Hugging to launch Scotland’s new Tree Trail which features a group of Scotland’s finest tree collections which have both national and international importance, brought together as the National Tree Collections of Scotland.

Organisers had hoped that 1000 people across Scotland would have joined hands to hug trees on Sunday and to trounce the USA’s recent attempt of 951 tree huggers that is yet to be formally recognised by Guinness World Records.

Tom Christian of the National Tree Collections Scotland said:

“We are now considering whether to submit a counter claim for the record, on the basis that Oregon’s attempt has not yet been officially recognised.”