Bognor Regis Town Crier named 'best dressed in the UK' for second year in a row
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It all went down at the 69th annual Hastings Town Crier Championships – which attracts competitors from as far afield as Belgium – on October 15.
Jane Smith, who has won best dressed three years out of five, was recognised for her distinct purple regalia – which she designed herself.
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Hide AdAn open competition, Jane said the Hastings championship works a little differently to some of the other events she’s attended because it allows any crier from any organisation to compete.
As such, she faced off again town criers from Hastings, Yorkshire, Devon and beyond. "It’s one of the last competitions in the season," she said. “So we have a really strong northern contingent come down and compete. So, being from a couple of hours away down the coast, I actually had one of the shortest distances to travel."
Despite the stiff competition, Jane won the regalia competition by a considerable margin and put in a convincing performance in the rest of the tournament, too.
"My outfit scored 96 points out of 100, so I was pretty pleased with that. And I think the runner up scored 73 – so it was a big difference. I was pleased with that.
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Hide Ad"And looking at the scores in the competition overall, I came sixth out of 15. That was really good because it means I’m standing in the top half of the competition. And if you bear in mind there was only one other lady and she came just above me, that’s really good – we were both competing against big burly men. I’m just really pleased with the results this year.”
As always, she went on to explain, this year’s competition was a real event, worth attending for the experience alone.
"It’s always such good fun because it comes at the end of Hastings Week,” Jane explained. “So there’s been this whole week of entertainment and we get to take part in the big parade at the end. All the bonfire societies meet up and lead this massive torchlit procession It's really colourful – everyone dresses up and there are big bands with drums playing. It’s great fun.”