Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Tenby hosted a successful Festival of Town Criers at the weekend. Eighteen criers from not only all over Wales, but as far afield as Gloucester, Hertfordshire, Devon and Dorset, attended the festival, which opened when the Royal British Legion hosted a welcome evening with buffet, at their premises in Lower Frog Street, on Friday. Saturday morning saw the criers meet at St. Mary's Church grounds to shout their 'home town cry', before paying visits and shouting their thanks from outside the premises of those who sponsored and supported this community event. In the afternoon, there was a colourful parade of the town criers, led by the Milford Town Band, through the town to Tudor Square, where the criers performed their 'competition cry' from the balcony of the Tenby House Hotel. The competition cry was based on Robert Recorde, a mathematician of note who invented the equal = sign and was born in Tenby in 1510. Judges were De Valence Trust member Paul Rapi, Tenby Town Council clerk Andrew Davies, Pat Price, of Manorbier, and Jeff Lewis, De Valence drama co- ordinator, while Tenby's own town crier John Thomas was on hand to host the celebrations. After much deliberation, the winner was chosen as Alistair Chisholm from Dorchester in Devon, while second was David Taylor, of Leominster, Hereford. Incidentally, it later emerged that David has strong local connections. His father John lives in Lydstep and his aunt is Ann Elms, who lives in Tenby. One competitor, Ms. Rosalind Charlton-Chard from Hatherleigh, Devon, brought along her dog called Millie, who was appropriately dressed in a coat to match her owner's town crier outfit! Following the competiton, the town criers paid a visit to Park House Court Nursing Home. The day finished with a well-supported 'Meet the Town Criers' evening at the De Valence Pavilion. The festival, organised by Tenby Events, concluded on Sunday when all visiting town criers attended morning service at St. Mary's Church. "All in all it was a good weekend," said Christine Brown, of Tenby Events. "The sun shone and there were good crowds in town who enjoyed the colourful celebrations."