IT was not a typical day at the office for Carnival UK staff on Wednesday, which saw members of staff battle it out to be the worlds best at several challenges and make it into the record history books.

At the end of the day it was announced that three Guinness World Records had been broken by staff which was met with roaring applause by workers who had gathered to pick up the sea of postcards that had been laid in the atrium throughout the day.

In total staff laid over 17300 hand written post cards breaking the existing world record of 16300 post cards.

Every member of staff went home with a medal that night for their participation in the day's events but a lucky few went home with a Guinness World Record Plaque to show their friends and family.

Dipu Mathew and John Tereza set the new record on their first attempts- with a total of seven pillows covered in the Most pillows covered in one minute challenge. The previous record to break was six.

The housekeeping team on the P&O Cruises Aurora ship had been practising this attempt, with the two fastest employees attending the day especially for the record attempt from the ship and have now returned to their duties.

Later in the day Chris Burch and Jennifer Macgregor secured the quickest time to tie 5m of rope together by a two-man team, with a lightening speed of 20.46 seconds. The minimum requirement was 32 seconds.

The pair were delighted with their win after revealing they hadn't even considered the challenge before the day.

Chris said: "It feels great to have broken this record. It's a good way to spend some time with my boss. We're used to working under pressure and delivering results.

"We practised it three times, we're both sailors. We're used to tying knots. It's not what we were expecting to come into work and do today.”

Staff also attempted to break Most captains hats thrown on to a hat stand by an individual in 30 seconds but missed out on this.

Director of Employee Communications, Hannah Leach told the Echo: "We wanted to create an event for our staff to give them the opportunity to take some time out of their day jobs and have a bit of fun and create unforgettable happiness. It's a great way for teams to interact around the building, challenging ourselves to think differently and have fun.

"We pride ourselves on being a place people can enjoy work and want to come into work. It's one of a number of events we're running this year. We will be screening the World Cup and Wimbledon. We want to make sure our staff feel recognised for their hard work."

Lee Kirby, manager facilities and health and safety said: "We started at half nine laying postcards. Ahead of the challenge we asked staff to fill out postcards with a memorable thing. Every member of staff has been laying cards down today. All the post cards had to be commercially available. To meet the record we needed to be laying 41 cards a minute in the time allocated. (9.30am-3.30pm). All the while selling holidays and creating unforgettable holiday happiness. "