Archive - Monday, 11 August 2003


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Ringing the changes in Tetbury

OYEZ OYEZ!

This familiar call for attention will soon be heard on the streets of Tetbury when resident Derek Jackson revives the role of town crier.

He is set to announce weddings, publicise Woolsack Day and attend Tetbury's Festive Weekend, among other events.

Mr Jackson, of Hampton Street, said town councillor Tony Walsh originally asked him to take on the voluntary role.

He said yes and started looking into the cost of regalia.

Mr Jackson said: "I've found a place Cheltenham that can provide me with a costume.

"Many town criers have very elaborate costumes but mine isn't going to be like that.

"It's going to be a blue coat of 18th century design, a long yellow brocade waistcoat, a shirt with jabot and frilled cuffs, a tricorn hat with gold braids, black trousers, white hose and buckled shoes.

"I would also particularly like the town's coat of arms, which has two dolphins, to go on the sleeve of the coat.

"I'm quite excited. It's all happened completely out of the blue."

Mr Jackson has secured a one-off payment of £400 from the town council to cover his costs.

He has also been researching the history of town criers on the internet, via the Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Crier's website.

Mr Jackson said: "I've discovered that until the beginning of the 20th century all town criers were royalists. They had to be a royalist to be a town crier.

"And until the late 19th century, if anyone hit or attacked a town crier it was considered to be treason."

Tetbury last had a town crier in the early 1990s.

The town council held a competition to recruit someone for the role.

A local shop owner is believed to have won, but soon after he moved from away the town.

The history of Tetbury town criers before this is vague, but a picture of Alexander Sealey, a Tetbury town crier in the 1800s, hangs in the town hall.

Details of Mr Sealey are also published in the book 'Tetbury - The Place and People', published by The History of Tetbury Society.