Wootton Bassett Town Cries Oyez, Oyez, Oyez!
13th June 2009
Town criers from across Europe descended on Wootton Bassett this weekend for a traditional competition. The Ancient and Honourable Town Criers Guild Championship 2009, organised by Wootton Bassett town crier Owen Collier took place on Saturday 13th June 2009 outside the Town Hall and Museum.

The championship was contested by 27 criers from across the country, giving colour and a lot of noise to a lovely sunny day. This year the performances of the Criers was judged on: Volume, Diction, Clarity and Inflection. Entrants were also judged for their fit of costume, bearing, overall appearance and use of historically relevant props.

Criers from across the country, and even from as far as Belgium, competed in two categories. The first saw the contestants issue a cry for their home towns in between 100 to 125 words, then the second contest saw the criers tasked with extolling the virtues of the ancient market town of Wootton Bassett.

Kevin Ward, the town crier of Bromsgrove, West Midlands, was crowned champion. David Fry, from South Gloucestershire, finished as runner-up, and Mike Bishop, from Frome, in Somerset, scooped bronze.

Bromsgrove Town Crier Kevin Ward's top prize was not his first crier's competition success. Recently he joined twenty-five other colourfully clad criers converged in the centre of tranquil Alcester for the Heart of England Town Criers Competition. Using all his experience, speech volume and clarity to scoop first place there too. The operating theatre nurse from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, has won town crier events before – but never the Heart of England title.

Wootton Bassett Mayor Steve Bucknell said: “It was an absolutely fantastic event and brought a real touch of colour to the town. The criers said some really lovely things about Wootton Bassett. They talked about its history but also about the repatriations. This is a really great event for Wootton Bassett to be involved in. It was good for tourism and the town’s people enjoyed it as well.”

World champion Hans Van-Gathan, from Belgium, started the event with a demonstration of his own skills.

Coun Bucknell said: “Owen Collier, our own town crier, also gave us a cry at the start, although he wasn’t allowed to actually take part in the competition. The organisation of the event, thanks to Owen, was really excellent and we are all very proud of him.”

Mr Collier said: “I’m just very happy that Wootton Bassett was able to host the competition. I think the town has got a good reputation and the fact that the reigning world champion was willing to travel hundreds of miles to be here shows that. It went very well. The standard was very good and there were some very varied cries.

“They spoke about the fact that Wootton Bassett is named in the Doomsday Book and the irregular election practices back in the 18th century where one local MP spent more than £1,000 on beer trying to get people to vote for him.

“And of course they talked about the respect the people of Wootton Bassett have shown for the fallen soldiers."

History of Town Criers
Town Criers were the original 'newsmen', finding their origins in the early Greek Empire as Spartan Runners. The first criers in Britain can be found in 1066 when news of William of Normandy's invasion was passed from town to town by men employed to remind everybody of Harold's authority.  As the literacy of Britain's population remained low well into the late 19th century, people came to rely on criers as a useful way of hearing about proclamations, edicts, laws and news.

Oyez, Oyez, Oyez ('hark' or 'listen') became a familiar call in town squares, markets and public meeting places all over Britain, a summons for the townspeople to gather and listen to news of plague, victories in far off lands, royal births and deaths by execution.

A Crier should always begin his announcement with “Oyez, oyez, oyez”. This apparently comes from Old French words meaning “Hear This”, but there are variations on the spelling and no-one really knows how it should be pronounced. Each Crier develops his own style of pronouncing it and it can be so individualistic that you can instantly know who’s Crying without seeing them!

The Cry should always be finished with a salutation appropriate to the Country you are in , in England it’s “God Save the Queen”, or, for example, in France “Vive La France”, but you can add a few words appropriate to the occasion, for example when the Court is Ale Tasting, it’s “God Save the Queen and the Lord of the Manor and the Landlord of this House!

News of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and of Guy Fawke's thwarted Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament was spread by Town Criers. Town criers were protected by the ruling monarch, as they sometimes brought bad news such as tax increases. To this day, any town crier in the British Commonwealth is protected under old English law that they are not to be hindered or heckled while performing their duties. To injure or harm a town crier was seen as an act of treason against the ruling monarchy. The term "Posting A Notice" comes from the act of the town crier, who having read his message to the townspeople, would attach it to the door post of the local inn.

"Town Criers don't have big mouths, they have loud voices…"

Alan Myatt holds two Guinness World Records. As well as being the loudest crier, recording a cry of 112.8 decibels, he also set the record for vocal endurance, issuing a one-hundred word proclamation every 15 minutes for a period of 48 hours.