Town Crier Lawrence Weetman

05/06/2022

On Thursday 2nd June I entered the competition to select the Town Crier for Chatteris for the next two years.

There were three entrants: me, Peter Taylor, and Matthew Sinclair.

Competitors were invited to write and give a cry lasting a maximum of two minutes. The only stipulation was that the cry should not be too serious. The competitors were also asked to give a cry provided on the day by the Festival Committee (the Platinum Jubilee cry).

Each of us gave our own cries followed by the Platinum Jubilee cry. You can watch all three competitors below. Congratulations again to Matthew Sinclair and good luck with your towncriership!

On a personal note, I really enjoyed being Town Crier from 2014 to 2021. I shall really miss attending all of your lovely events as crier - from Rotary Club after dinner speeches to church and school Christmas Fayres, from proclaiming exciting important royal events to commemorating solemn wartime anniversaries. It's been a real privilege to serve Chatteris in this way.

04/06/2022

The Platinum Jubilee cry was the last cry for Ely's Town Crier, Avril Hayter-Smith. After an excellent twenty years of service, Avril is retiring.

I really enjoyed taking part in the Loyal Company of Town Criers competition in Ely, organised by Avril, back in 2019. It was great to meet up with Criers from across the country and have lots of fun, even if rain did stop play for a while! Thank you Avril, for your support while I was the Town Crier of Chatteris, and making me feel so welcome at the 2019 event. ♥ 🔔 📜

You can see Avril's last cry here 👇

02/06/2022

Congratulations to Matthew Sinclair who is the new Town Crier of Chatteris. 👏 🔔 📜

02/06/2022

The competition to select Chatteris' town crier is tonight at 6.15pm in the church grounds! Come along to see, and cheer on, all of the entrants perform their cries!

05/04/2022

The Town Crier Competition will take place on 2nd June 2022.

01/02/2022

🔔 OYEZ! 🔔 OYEZ! 🔔 OYEZ! 🔔

I have handed back my Town Crier outfit, hat and bell today and am no longer the Town Crier of Chatteris. I have changed the name of the page to reflect this.

To mark the occasion, I thought that - for the first time - I'd share the "home cry" I did about Chatteris at the Ely Town Crier Competition in 2019.

The competition was hosted at Ely's Eel Day by the local crier, Avril Hayter-Smith, and the Loyal Company of Town Criers - who very kindly allowed me to take part. I had been looking forward to competing at more events in 2020, but Covid-19 hit and it turns out that the Ely 2019 competition would be the only one I ever took part in.

I haven't shared this video before because I only decided to record it at the last minute and left filming duties to my fidgety 9-year-old. That said, hopefully my cry about root vegetables and the elusive "fen tiger" entertains you as much as anything else I've done in the last seven years.

I look forward to seeing what happens when the Town Council hold a competition in June to select a new crier, and wish all those who enter the best of luck.

Thank you all.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!

🔔 📜 🔔 📜 🔔

25/01/2022

I was honoured to be invited to speak at the monthly meeting of The Rotary club of Chatteris yesterday evening.

My talk covered the history of town criers, how town criers were replaced by modern media, the role played by modern-day town criers, and my experiences of entering competitions and performing public duties. I am pleased to say that it went down very well and it was a very pleasurable evening.

This was my last event before the competition to select a new Town Crier for Chatteris later this year, so I ended my talk with one last cry that I had written for the Rotary Club.

Thank you for inviting me. I'd also like to thank everyone who has followed my page, been to see me perform in public, and all those who have patiently listened to me explain that I am not, in fact, a pirate. It's been fun.

📜 🔔 🗣️

05/12/2021

The Cromwell Community College PTA is holding a Christmas fête at The Sportsman Chatteris from now until 4pm.

🔔 📜 🎄 🎅 🎁 🕓

29/11/2021

The Fenland Citizen has photographs from the Chatteris Christmas Lights switch on this weekend.

Were you there? If you braved the weather, you may see yourself in some of these photos!

Once again Chatteris is one of the top spots for Christmas lights in the area following the town’s annual switch-on event yesterday (Saturday).

21/11/2021

It's the Concessions at number 28 Christmas Craft Fair at the King Edward Community Centre Chatteris today.

The fair runs from 10am until 2pm. There are 37 stalls. Visitors will be asked for a £1 donation towards defibrillators in the town.

13/11/2021

It's a busy day in Chatteris! As well as the craft fair at Chatteris Parish Church there is the opportunity to buy some raffle tickets in support of the Chatteris Christmas Lights!

Head to the High Street this morning to buy yours! There's a top prize of a £100 hamper and lots of other great prizes, and the funds raised will fund the Christmas lights which are reliant on your kind donations!