Dorchester Town Crier wins British Championships
It's the first time the competition was held in silence
Last updated 17th May 2021
Dorchester's town crier has something to shout about.
Alistair Chisholm has won the British Town Crier Championships 2021.
The competition has been going for 26 years and town criers gather to shout out their cries, but this year not a sound was not heard.
The pandemic's forced the Loyal Company of Town Cries to take their Oyez' online.
So instead, for this year's British Town Crier Championships they were judged solely on written entries.
This year's crying theme was Nature and the Environment.
The winners of the virtual championships are:
1st Alistair Chisholm Dorchester Town Crier
2nd Rawden Kerr Great Harwood Town Crier
3rd Les Cutts Halifax, Calderdale and Hebden Royd Town Crier
The Crier with the most donations attributed to them is Rawden Kerr Great Harwood Town Crier.
Greatest Hits Radio Dorset asked Alistair for some tips.
He said:
"You need to hold people's attention all the way through. I happen to write my cries in rhyme because that's just more fun, to try and find the words that rhyme with the previous line.
"I think you have to get a grip on the subject, take a particular angle on it that might be particular to you."
The competition was held alongside alongside Mental Health Awareness Week between 10th - 16th May. All proceeds from the competition will go towards Mental Health Charity SHOUT.