Frome Town Crier, Mike Bishop, and his wife, Angie, had a very enjoyable weekend at Banbury in Oxfordshire, the weekend of the 5th and 6th September.
Mike took part in the Banbury open championship along with Angie as his escort for their first time, they were among 26 criers and 17 escorts taking part.
Banbury is one of only three competitions each year that are open to members of the Ancient and Honourable Guild and the Loyal Order of Town Criers. Mike himself only belongs to the Ancient and Honourable Guild, so he met several Loyal criers for the first time and was very impressed with their standard in crying and their dress.
The competition was won for best cry by Michael Woods the crier for the East Riding of Yorkshire, who is actually a past world champion.
Mike says he was “gob smacked” when the awards for the best dressed were announced and he was awarded the trophy for Best Dressed Crier, beating all the rest who Mike thought at the time were mostly better than him, but as Mike says it all depends on the judges on the day. This is the first time he has won the best dressed in his red outfit, although he did win Torbay two years ago in his blue outfit and Angie and himself won best couple this year at Torbay in their red.
