![]() ![]() Town criers were employed to tell townspeople the latest news, proclamations and bylaws, grabbing their attention by ringing a handbell. “Following on from that were the heralds of ancient Greece and Rome – they used to announce in the news, and presumably sports events like, you know, Lions – 15 Christians – Nil.”Īccording to The Loyal Company of Town Criers website the role dates back to at least the Norman invasion, with two bellmen appearing in the Bayeux tapestry. “Depending on who you talk to, you could say the first to do our particular calling were the prophets in the Bible,” says the Nuneaton & Bedworth crier, who met Williams at the millennium town crier competition in Ghent, Belgium. Because when your voice is an instrument, you don’t abuse it.”), the joy of town crying is in its history. This is what we do.”įor her partner, reigning British Town Crier champion Paul Gough (“People always ask if it’s very noisy in our house,” says Williams, “But actually, it’s really very quiet. Anyway, keeping the competition going in the face of adversity is a very town crier thing to do: “We carry on regardless, keep calm and carry on. “We love an audience and at the moment we haven’t got one – it’s a big chunk missing from town criers’ lives,” she says. Judges for the 2021 championships include poet Ian McMillan, known as the Bard of Barnsley, as well as an international public speaker and an English teacher, with the winner announced on 13 May.Īll funds raised by the competition will go to the charity Shout, which provides mental health support via a text message, but the competition is also a way for notoriously sociable town criers – who may take part in half a dozen competitions around the country every year – to stay connected, she says. The theme for this year’s competition, organised by The Loyal Company of Town Criers, is “nature and the environment” in support of mental health week 10-16 May. “That has to include three Oyezs at the beginning and God Save the Queen at the end, of course.” And it must stick to the word count,” says Williams, Bishop’s Stortford’s town crier since 1996. “It’s got to be interesting enough to hold its audience, it needs a certain rhythm. ![]() While judges are usually focused on “three distinct parts of a cry” – sustained volume and clarity, diction and inflection, and content – this year they will focus on whether cries have stuck to the theme and the 140-word limit, says organiser and champion crier Carole Williams. ![]()
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