He was exhausted when he’d finished but that’s how you’d expect to feel when you break a Guinness World Record.
Hepworth artist David Gilhooley, 52, broke the record for sketching the most portraits in a 12-hour period.
It was an early start for David who began the hand-numbing task at his village hostelry, The Butchers Arms, at 9am on Saturday.
The record had been held by Gary Javier, of Puerto Rico, who managed a staggering one picture every four and a half minutes – 160 drawings in total.
David, known as the Guinness Artist as he’s used the Irish tipple to paint watercolours, had said beforehand that he feared running out of heads to draw but there was no danger of that as the pub heaved with patient sitters waiting their moment of glory.
Anyone wishing to be drawn simply had to turn up and stare at a small teddy bear and pay a minimum of £2 while David’s deft hands did the rest.
The tension mounted during the day as David inevitably tired but with around 40 minutes to spare a huge cheer went up when he completed a portrait of regular Roy Ibbotson and broke the record.
David, who lost both his father Frank and brother Raymond to cancer this year, was inspired by the thought of raising funds for The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation.
He said: “It’s 20 years since Roy’s passing. He was born in nearby Scholes and I thought it would be fitting to come up with a novel Record Breaker fundraiser.”
Caroline Kimber, landlady of the Butchers, said: “Dave is one of our regulars and one day he said he had this idea and when he told me I said I thought it was a great idea and it just got bigger and bigger.
“The pub was buzzing. The first person to be drawn was my eight-year-old son Oliver who was still in his onesie. We have had several requests for dogs to be drawn too so three have gone into his book.
“It was a fabulous day. I thought we might have to go round knocking on people’s doors asking for them to come and be drawn but quite the reverse.
“He was absolutely exhausted but elated when he finished. There were big cheers and whistles throughout the pub when he finished doing Roy.
“He had a pint of Yorkshire Blonde ale to celebrate and we kept topping him up with ham sandwiches during the day.”
