TOWN crier Vic Watson reckons Huddersfield has plenty to shout about.

So he challenged competitors in the annual town criers’ contest to make a big noise about the town’s attractions.

Nine criers from as far afield as Birmingham, Liverpool and Rotherham took to the podium in the Piazza on Saturday for the competition, the seventh of its kind. Dressed in the traditional robe and hat and armed only with a bell – and some serious vocal cords – they completed two rounds.

In the first round, the criers had to come up with a cry about their home towns.

In the second they were asked by Vic, as the compère, to compose a cry celebrating Huddersfield.

Vic, in his 11th year as Huddersfield town crier, said: “They’re judged on a range of aspects: volume and quality, confidence and bearing and diction and inflection.

“There’s some very good criers about and it’s a thoroughly enjoyable day.”

Last year’s winner, Terry Stubbins, 63, from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, took first place again, and said the competition was good-natured.

“We all like to win, but we’re all good friends and know that if we’re not the one to win, then one of our friends will,” he said.

He added the good town crier had a number of qualities.

“You need to be convivial and enjoy getting on with people,” he said.

“A loud voice is obviously essential, as is the ability to write a good cry.”

In Medieval England, town criers were the primary means of communicating news to the people of the town, since many could not read or write.

Royal proclamations, local bylaws, market days, advertisements, even selling loaves of sugar were all proclaimed by a bellman or crier throughout the centuries.

‘Oyez’ – the word traditionally used to start a cry – derives from the Anglo-Norman word for ‘listen.’

The ceremonial red and gold robe, white breeches, black boots and tricorne hat date back to the 18th century.

But Terry said there was still a place for criers today.

He said: “It’s a great tradition and we still do a lot of work at garden parties, fetes and that sort of thing.”