Fight to be a big noise for crying out loud

Dev Hobson, Kidsgrove Town Crier from Staffordshire taking part in the British Town Cryer championships in Huddersfield

The 2013 British Town Crier Championships was being held in the region for the first time with 25 of the country’s best vying for the title.

Town criers came from as far away as Alnwick and Colchester to take part in the event, being hosted in Huddersfield at the weekend.

East Riding’s town crier Michael Wood defended his British title to win the event while Paul Gough from Nuneaton was the runner-up.

Huddersfield’s own town crier Vic Watson who had offered to stage it, told the Yorkshire Post he was delighted with both the quality of the competition and the public’s response.

He said: “We held it at the Piazza in Huddersfield town centre and had large crowds throughout the day.

“There were a lot of students coming to watch, especially international students from places like Vietnam and South Korea who said they have nothing like this back home.”

The event, which is the biggest event in the town criers’ calendar is held ever two years by the Loyal Company of Town Criers.

The competition was split into two sections on Saturday.

In the morning competitors were tested on their own ‘home cry’ and in the afternoon they had to produce a new cry based on the theme: ‘Huddersfield the Place to make it.’ Each cry had to be between 75 and 125 words.

Marks were deducted if a word or a line of an official cry was missed during the competition.

Mr Watson said: “ One of the judges is looking at each town crier’s confidence and bearing.

“It is no good being a town crier if you are slouched down. Another listens to their diction and clarity. Someone can shout as loud as they like but they need an audience to be able to understand them.”

He said one of the judges listens to the performance with their backs turned so that they are only assessing the crier based on their voice.

Mr Watson added: “ I told the master scorer not to tell me how each of the town criers were doing during the day so when we got to the awards evening it was just like the Baftas with us not knowing who was going to be the winner.”

Mr Watson, who regularly stages competitions, has been Huddersfield’s town crier for 17 years.