Town Crier
Les Ellis, Town Cryer
Les Ellis has been Dartmouth’s Town Crier since April 2007, taking over from Peter Randall, albeit a crier for the past 5 years. The role was re-established for Dartmouth as a result of the support and sponsorhip of Dartmouth’s Chamber of Trade. Whilst most of his work is in the town, he will also ‘cry’ at any event local to the River Dart.
Les is a natural for this role possessing the expected physique, loud voice and the confidence and enthusiasm for meeting people that is so important for a town crier. His services are used during many Dartmouth festivals and regattas but he will also work for local businesses such as at shop openings, corporate dinners etc.
For most ‘cries’, Les is given a script, which he prefers although adding suggestions as appropriate. Most cries are about 100 words long, lasting two to three minutes, and always start off with ‘Oyez, Oyez, Oyez’ and finish with ‘God Save the Queen.’ Everybody loves to hear the bell ringing and after the cry, there’s often applause and a long queue for photographs to be taken with Les. “Maybe it’s the tradition of the cry or the uniform,” says Les, “but a cry is a great way to start off many conversations with all sorts of people, which I love. I really enjoy entertaining and meeting people.” It’s also a great way to collect money for charity in return for having a photo taken with him. He collects for the local air ambulance and hopes to do so also for the Dart RNLI lifeboat.
You will have seen Les at the Port of Dartmouth Regatta either at the gig racing or judging a competition. He opens the local Kingswear & Dittisham regattas and is to be seen on each month’s second Saturday, greeting the first steam train passengers from Kingswear on the Dartmouth jetty, welcoming them to Dartmouth and directing them to the local Farmers Market. He’s keen also that his services might be used to greet passengers from the increasing number of cruise ships visiting the town.
Being a town crier is just one of Les’ current activities. Having retired after 30 years from the Metropolitan Police Service, where he was a detective working at Scotland Yard, he and his wife moved to Galmpton. He became a crier when he stepped into the breach at the local Gooseberry Pie Fair. “I was told I had the gift of the gab and so was ‘volunteered’ for the usual crier who was ill,” admits Les. But Les has long entertained audiences being a professional ‘close-up’ magician for nearly 15 years. In this role, he is kept particularly busy, working at private and corporate functions around South Hams & Torbay. He’s often to be found at The Royal Castle in the run-up to Christmas. Not only that but he will often dress up as a clown for children’s parties and is a ‘balloon puppeteer”.
When Les is not entertaining audiences as a magician or town crier, he’s using his professional skills as a traffic accident investigator working for insurance companies. He travels around the South West analysing the causes of road accidents, which will require interviewing witnesses and those involved as well as analysis at the site of the accident.
If you are a local business that could benefit from Les’ town crying (for a modest fee depending on the nature and duration of the engagement) or if you are interested in using Les as a magician, then he can be contacted on 01803 845501.
First Published September 2008 By The Dart