MIDDLEWICH hosted its first ever town crier competition on Saturday, with the event hailed a resounding success.

Ten criers from across the country made their presence known at the White Bear in Wheelock Street, with judges scoring them over two sessions.

Dressed in colourful attire and accompanied by their escorts, the criers were judged on volume, clarity, diction and confidence.

John Robinson, Biddulph town crier, was presented with the Middlewich Salt Town Trophy by mayor Pam Farrell, who also took to the stage as Middlewich’s honorary crier.

Master of ceremonies and official Middlewich crier Devlin Hobson led the competitors through a morning and afternoon session.

From 11am, criers delivered a home cry, promoting their town, before a ‘confessions of a hand bell’-themed cry after lunch.

No one went away empty handed, with other prizes including best dressed and best ambassador.

The idea of Middlewich hosting its own competition was born after the town stepped in to host a different national event last year. The town council decided to hold an annual Middlewich event, complete with a trophy.

Devlin said: “Everything went off really, really well, and we have had lots of good feedback so it was very successful. All criers said they are definitely coming back next year and they had a lot of fun.

“Most competitions that we go to are taken quite seriously, but we wanted to make it a bit of fun. We wanted to give the audience a bit of a laugh.

“We stuck to the rules and kept a protocol, but I made it fairly informal which went down extremely well.

“The reason I chose Confessions of a Hand Bell was to give everyone the chance to make a funny cry that was entertaining.

“From now on this is the road we will go down. We are sticking to the rules but making it a fun day for everybody. We hope word will get round and over the years we will grow it into a really big event.”

Devlin and the town council have decided that the annual competition will be held on the last Saturday in July, coinciding with the Makers Market and bringing people into the town centre.