OYEZ... Alistair Chisholm is off to sing the praises of Dorchester at the World Town Crying Tournament.

He will shout against 40 competitors from around the world at the Coach House Hotel in Chester in mid-June.

And Alistair – who is seven times national champion – has issued a cry for help for someone to write one of his pieces for him.

Alistair said: “I’m going to represent the whole community.

“I like the idea that somebody in the community could write one of the cries for the competition.

“This will help involve people and the community in the whole event.”

Alistair added: “There are plenty of people with the ability.

“The whole air of Casterbridge and Dorchester is full of literary wafts. I am sure loads of people could turn their hands to it.”

The World Town Crying Tournament will be from June 13 to 20 and will feature criers from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, America, France and Belgium.

The entrants will have to give three cries.

The best 12 criers on aggregate from the three rounds will compete in the Grand Final on Saturday, June 19, giving two further cries to determine the World Tournament Champion 2010.

The criers will be judged not just on sustained volume, but on clarity, diction, content of the cry and engaging the audience.

Alistair wants people to submit pieces for his first round cry on June 15.

Alistair said: “This cry, which is being sponsored by the Coach House Hotel in Chester, must take the audience back in time to an age before rail and flight, when stagecoaches ruled the roads.

“The word coach or stagecoach must be mentioned at least once in the cry which should be in the form of a proclamation made as if you were living at the time of the event.

“In other words a re-enactment cry.”

The cry must be between 100 and 125 words long including three Oyez at the beginning and God Save The Queen at the end.

It does not have to be written in verse, although Alistair is well known for his rhyming ‘odd odes’.

Anyone may submit a cry and the writer of the cry chosen by Alistair for performance in Chester will win a free cry on any subject of their choosing to be given by Alistair at a time and in a place of the writer’s choice.

All entries, addressed to Alistair Chisholm, Town Crier of Dorchester, c/o Dorchester Town Council, 19 North Square, Dorchester, DT1 1JF, must be received by Friday, May 7.