YARMOUTH town centre was brought to a standstill this afternoon as 900 Wallys created a party atmosphere as they turned the Market Place red and white.

YARMOUTH town centre was brought to a standstill this afternoon as 900 Wallys created a party atmosphere as they turned the Market Place red and white.

Crowds dressed in cartoon character Wally's traditional uniform of red and white hooped top, red and white hat and black rimmed spectacles sang and danced in the rain as a DJ pumped out dance hits including Cheryl Cole's latest single “Fight for this love.”

The turnout meant the town narrowly missed out on breaking the Guinness World Record for the most Wallys in one place, which stands at the 1,052 set by New York.

But organisers the Town Centre Partnership were not despondent and vowed to have another go at breaking the record next year.

Town centre manager Jonathan Newman said 1,200 Wally costumes had been sold, but not everybody who had brought the outfit turned up.

He said: “We now know we can get a crowd of 900 people together for this record attempt and, if these people had a great time, with their assistance we could have another go.”

He added: “Everybody was happy. There were lots of smiling faces, it was a superb day.”

The record attempt could be held just before the start of the busy summer season to avoid the heavy downpours which blighted today's bid.

The attempt was the brainchild of independent bookseller Martin Blackwell from Books Inside, who had seen a newspaper story on New York's record effort.