This September will see the return of a popular - and very loud - competition.
The 31st competition for Dorset Town Criers will take place in the Countryside Ring at the Dorset County Show.
Criers representing Beaminster, Bridport, Blandford Forum, Ferndown, Langton Herring. Pamphill and Shapwick, Sturminster Newton, Swanage, Wareham, Wimborne Minster and West Moors will be competing in a two round contest for the Stanley Mansbridge Perpetual Trophy.
Round one in the morning will be the crier’s 'Home Cry' extolling the place they represent. Round two in the afternoon will be a cry with the title 'Extreme Weather and Farming'. This relates to the many different challenges faced by the farming community during 2018.
Judges will be looking and listening for the following elements in each cry:
* Sustained volume and clarity
* Diction and inflection
* Presentation and engagement
* Content of cry
Prizes will be awarded for first, second and third places and there will be a prize for the best dressed crier. The 'Dorset Champion' will host the competition next year.
This will be the second time the Dorset County Show has hosted this competition. In 2008 town criers and visitors set a Guinness World Record for the largest town cry with 280 people participating.
The event will be held at the Dorset County Show on Sunday, September 2.
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