Oyez! Oyez! Oyez!
On Saturday, October 14 the 70th National Town Crier championships were held in Rye.
All sorts of wonderful regalia were on show in the Gun Gardens next to Ypres Castle. The hand bells could be heard across the town.
The event was well attended by locals and visitors to the town, all looking forward to seeing who would win this year with a round of hearty cheering and whistling ending every town crier’s speech, with the other contestants watching and supporting each other.
There were multiple categories with one town crier winning two awards, including best dressed and another for the sparkle in his eye!
It was a close contest for the overall winner - who did his first speech in Flemish! However, after the award was handed to him, he did perform another town cry in English.
It was a Rye quirky event offering good fun for all on a sunshine afternoon!
On Sunday 15 the Rye Station car park was stuffed full of classic and vintage cars, many with bonnets open and shining clean engines!
There were probably hundreds of people milling around looking at the cars, all admiring the beautiful roarers before them. The chance to see the engines themselves was fantastic too.
All afternoon the smell of car fumes moved around town trailing the cars as they did their tours through the high street. There were some really brilliant-looking ones, and, for fans of The Italian Job (the classic movie), there were some original style Minis there too!
