Saltash has a town crier for the first time in about 900 years. There were just two people competing for the position on Wednesday evening at the football stadium – Brian Whipp, known as 'Sir Francis Drake', and Devonport Dockyard electrician David Wilde. The judges – Saltash town mayor, Bob Austin, last year's mayor and mayoress, Jo and Clare Ellison, Dennis Cook, Callington town crier, and Mrs Julia Hard of Saltash Football Club – were looking for clarity, good diction, inflection and deportment. The candidates walked to the centre of the pitch to deliver their speeches, and the judges were in the stand. The winner was Brian Whipp, who will be at the town's lights ceremony on December 7 in Fore Street, Saltash, in full costume. The town crier event was the idea of Neil and Gloria Challen and, with the help of local people, they have so far raised £2,000 to provide a uniform.
