Dartmouth Town Crier Les Ellis and his consort (and wife) Liz attended Calne Town Crier competition in Wiltshire on Saturday July 20.

Over 30 Town Criers from across the United Kingdom, Bermuda, Nova Scotia and Australia attended.

The cry location was on the bank of the River Marden in the heart of the town centre.

The theme was “Cry Me a River”.

Liz was judged Best dressed consort and they were both judged Best Dressed Couple.

The competition was won by Paul Gough of the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth.

This weekend sees the three day competition entitled 'The Francis Drake Armada Cup' and starts in Plymouth July 26, Kingsbridge on July 27 and Dartmouth on July 28.

This is a competition that has been going well over 30 years now and is international inviting criers from around the world.

The three-day event is the South West’s most prestigious crier event, with criers from across the region and beyond, including competitors from across the globe.

This year we have criers from Canada, Australia and Bermuda.

The criers compete for the Peter Randall Memorial Cup

In all three competitions there were awards for first, second and third places as well as best dressed crier, best dressed consort and best dressed couple.

Les said: “I am in my 18th year (as Dartmouth Town Crier).

“I took the place of Peter Randall who was here for 22 years but passed away in 2003.

“There have historically been town criers since 1640 at least.”