Teenagers' marathon at Shrewsbury's Big Busk raises £4,000 for charity

Louis Briggs, 13, and Tom Barras, 14, who perform as Guitar Cubed, were told the day before their musical marathon that the record could not be officially validated because they were too young.

But the pair, who were determined to raise money for Shrewsbury charity The Ark, decided to go tackle the challenge anyway. The pair, who both live in Bridgnorth, played from 9am on Friday until just after 10am on Saturday, concluding with a rendition of Hey Jude. They played for a total of 25 hours and five minutes, and raised £4,000 for The Ark.

While their names will not appear in the official record book, Dudley band The Empty Can, whose 24 hours and 30 minutes busk is the official record holder, said that as far as they are concerned Guitar Cubed were now the record holders.

More than £2,200 of the cash was donated into buckets by people who watched the duo, many of who were gathering for the Big Busk that was held in aid of The Ark on Saturday.

Steve Barras, Tom's father, said: "Tom and Louis want people to know that they followed the rules and it is only not being recognised because of their age.

"They were allowed a five-minute break every hour and a maximum gap of 30 seconds between songs."

The attempt generated media interest, and they conducted live radio and TV interviews in the hourly five-minute breaks.

"Tom and Louis decided that a marathon busk could raise awareness and funds for the homeless," Mr Barras said. "When they started to research the issues they were shocked to find how much of a problem it is for people of their own age – with over a third of the people becoming homeless before their 15th birthday.

"People had come from all over to cheer them and donate. One lady arrived on a bus from Stourbridge and another, using walking sticks, said she wouldn't normally come into town on a Saturday. One little girl even came down in her pyjamas late on the Friday evening to give them an Easter egg.

"There were some difficult times, particularly when nobody was around and the hours stretched ahead of them, but it was then that they kept each other going."

Visit www.guitarcubed.co.uk