BSS House hits the target with record breaking event

Our BSS House business centre in Swindon was the location for a new Guinness World Record, set by the son of one of the centre’s longest established customers.

Seventeen-year-old Hamish Murray had his sights set on smashing the record for the fastest time to shoot 10 arrows into a 40cm target from a distance of 18 metres. One of BSS House’s corridors proved the ideal setting on a quiet Saturday.

Double World Record holder

Hamish’s dad Stewart owns Charisma Blinds, which has been based at BSS House for 20 years, and Hamish works for the company on Saturdays.

“I introduced Hamish to archery about eight years ago and he took to it like a duck to water. He’s better than me now!” Stewart says.

And this is evidenced by the fact that Hamish is now the proud holder of two Guinness World Records. His first, for most arrows simultaneously shot from a longbow, was set last year and will feature in the 2016 Guinness Book of World Records.

Stewart continues: “Hamish and I are both members of a society and we do lots of archery shows around the UK and Europe. We had the idea for a world record as we thought it would be good fun to do something a bit different.

“We wanted demonstrate how effective the medieval longbow was as a weapon of war. It was the machine gun of its day, with an incredibly rapid rate of fire. However, the record criteria we suggested was very similar to an existing record held by Guinness, so we had to be willing to try to beat the existing record instead.”

Breaking the 10 arrows record

The record which Hamish broke was previously set around 15 years ago, using a modern compound bow with sights. Hamish used a traditional longbow with no sights or additions, shooting 10 arrows into the target in a time of 1 minute 0.5 seconds to become the new record holder.

“Hamish didn’t believe he could do it at first because of the specifications and competing against a modern bow. But he’s so determined and spent most of his summer holidays practicing. His fingers were bleeding quite regularly!” Stewart says.

The plan had been to hold the record attempt on the anniversary of the Battle of Crecy in August, which was an important English victory during the Hundred Years’ War. However, because of the stormy conditions in France at the time, Hamish could not submit the record attempt to Guinness due to technical reasons.

“We were disappointed, but we wanted to give it another go,” Stewart continues.  “Jane Kirk, the Business Centre Manager at BSS House, has always been keen on having events going on at the centre so I approached her to see if we could use one of the main corridors and she thought it was a great idea.”

Around a dozen people gathered to watch the record being set, including invigilators from Guinness. Hamish would like to thank everyone who helped arrange this attempt. 

“He was over the moon to break the record, and so was everyone else,” Stewart says.

Workspace with Charisma

Charisma Blinds, which has a team of 12 staff, supplies bespoke products to both commercial and domestic customers. The company has a workshop at BSS House where it manufactures its products, as well as offices and a showroom on-site.

BSS House is celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year and has hosted a number of fantastic events involving customers and the local community, as well as raising money for charity. BSS House was Swindon’s first business centre and over the years more than 500 businesses have had their home at the site.  Thirteen current occupiers have been at the centre more than 10 years.

BSS House comprises offices, workshops, studio space, industrial units and storage units, varying in size to suit a wide range of businesses. The centre has spacious car parking facilities and offers mailboxes and meeting rooms, which are available to external businesses and can be hired by the hour, with catering available on request.

For more information contact Business Centre Manager Jane Kirk on 01793 613 456.