It was a valiant effort but Great Yarmouth lost out again yesterday in its bid to set a new world record for the largest number of people in one place to be dressed as cult cartoon character Wally.

It was a valiant effort but Great Yarmouth lost out again yesterday in its bid to set a new world record for the largest number of people in one place to be dressed as cult cartoon character Wally.

There was massive disappointment after it was revealed that the town was just 123 people short of beating the current record held by New York of 1,052. A final count of registrations revealed that 930 people had dressed up as the cartoon character from the Where's Wally series of books.

But despite the overcast conditions and the failed attempt, there was still a carnival atmosphere in the Market Place as people of all ages danced to music dressed in their red and white Wally costumes.

It was the town's second attempt at making it into the Guinness Book of Records.

Last October profiteers were accused of wrecking the town's chances after it emerged that Wally costumes which had been sold in advance for �5 had turned up on internet auction site Ebay for up to �30 ahead of the earlier bid.

For more pictures buy tomorrow's paper.