Knaresborough wins town crier competition

This story is free to read. For access to all our content, please subscribe. We rely on subscriptions to keep providing news that matters. Click here to get started.

Knaresborough town crier Mark Hunter won a crying competition in Lancashire last weekend.

Mr Hunter and his consort, Andrea Hunter, travelled to Great Harwood in Lancashire for the Great Harwood Town Crier Competition on Saturday (October 25), when criers from across the country came together to compete for first place. 

The town criers were tasked with performing two cries: the home cry and the themed cry, the subject of which was 'Lancashire, the geographic centre of the British Isles'. 

In a social media post, Knaresborough Town Criers said the theme “unsurprisingly generated a great deal of good-natured banter between the Lancashire and Yorkshire criers”. 

Mr Hunter told the Stray Ferret contestants first performed their home cry, which encourage people to visit their town.

Mr Hunter wrote the lyrics to his cries, which had to be between 100 and 140 words, with the help of Ms Hunter.

“I always write my competition cries in rhyme”, he told the Stray Ferret.

Knaresborough took home first prize but Mr Hunter said the competition is “really about representing Knaresborough and raising its profile”.

Southport town crier Kev Ruane came second, while Elizabeth Anderson-Watson of Barnoldswick placed third.

Hilary McGrath, Garstang town crier, was named the people’s champion at the competition. 

Knaresborough Town Criers said online:

The Knaresborough Town Crier Competition is held annually during Feva – the town’s two-week arts festival – but Mr Hunter said he hopes the Loyal Company of Town Criers’ annual national contest will one day be held in Knaresborough.