The life of a TOWN CRIER

Brenda Willison is part of a centuries-old tradition originating from medieval times

- KATE CHAPMAN

She had no idea what a town crier did until she became one almost 40 years ago - and thanks to the role, Brenda Willison has travelled the world, won competitions and performed ceremonial duties for the Royal Family.

The 71-year-old grandmother, who is town crier for Newmarket, in Suffolk, 20 miles from her home in Weeting, says her most memorable cry was on Remembrance Sunday in 1995, when she stood on the bridge on the River Kwai, in Thailand, and delivered a cry for peace to mark 50 years since the end of World War Two.

Twenty-three years later, that cry was adapted to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of World War One, and was given by around 185 town criers all over the world.

Brenda admits the idea of becoming a town crier - an official, dressed in traditional livery and tricorn hat, who makes public announcements in the streets and is famed for shouting 'Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!' - never occurred to her until her two daughters, Joanna and Jeanette, entered her into a contest advertised in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph, in 1987.

'At the time, I was a catering manager at Ferry Meadows Country Park in Peterborough, overseeing two cafes and other kiosks,' recalls Brenda. 'To enter the competition, you had to write in saying why you would make a good town crier. My daughters, who also worked at the park, wrote in saying, If our mum stands outside one cafe and shouts "chips", you can hear her outside the other! I had no idea they'd done it!'