VIDEO: VIPs on top of the world after conquering Altitude 44 in Skegness

Coun Billy Brookes joined VIPs for a soft launch of Altitude 44 - the UK's tallest highwire standing 21 metres on the horizon along the seafront.

The 18-year-old was also joined by his uncle Coun Jimmy Brookes and Skegness Mayor Coun Mark Dannatt, as well as other guests eager to have a go.

Having completed the course he said: "It was really good. We all completed it and then jumped down from the end - which Jimmy struggled with.

"You are winched down slowly but it's just going over the edge that's the hard bit.

"It took about 90 minutes so is quite tiring but you can choose the level you attempt. I did some of the black but chose easier ones when I was getting tired.

"I'm really excited about this attraction. I was told it's the most difficult one in the country and that will draw people here as well as give teenagers and younger members of families more to do.

"It can get boring when you are a teenager so we need more things like this if we want to keep young people in the town."

Mayor Coun Mark Dannatt said he was shattered by the experience but thoroughly enjoyed it. He said: "It's looking really good and people are having fun. It means a lot to have attractions like this. The town is up and coming and we need to keep Skegness alive - this is the ideal venue."

Just a few weeks ago the biggest attraction to come to Skegness in years was dividing opinion. Magna Vitae, who run the attraction, launched a competition on its Facebook page for four people to win a ride.It attracted more than 640 comments, most of them very positive.But when the post was shared on other Facebook pages, some people were not so impressed, with comments such as “Win a chance to be the human guinea pigs...I’ll pass.” “Won’t be getting me up there.” and “New ambulance point”.However, Altitude 44 manager David Sneddon has always been confident the attraction will be a huge success. “This is by far the biggest one I have worked on and I have never seen a better location so I am really excited.

"There have been months and months and years of work put into it and to see families finally on the course is really exciting. I can't wait to get more people on it and to share that fun."

Magna Vitae Chief Executive Mark Humphreys said: “We are absolutely delighted to be bringing such an exciting and fantastic new attraction to Skegness, once again working withour partners at East Lindsey District Council.

“The council, together with Magna Vitae, has made significant investment into Skegness over the last 12 months and this is yet another fabulous addition.

"We firmly believe that investment into Skegness will bring significant benefits both to the resort, and East Lindsey as a whole.”

The attraction is expected to open to the public ahead of schedule in early August.