TOWN crier Alistair Chisholm was down in the mouth after losing out at an international town crying competition.

He blamed his defeat in the final on wearing out his voice while campaigning in Dorchester town centre against new council office blocks.

Mr Chisholm reached the final 12 of the World Town Crier Tournament in Chester but finished in 11th place.

He said: “I am disappointed.

“It is not just the quality of cry but the voice and way in which it is delivered.

“My voice was hoarse and cracked after campaigning about the Charles Street development in the town centre.

“But I did make the final and I was pleased about that.”

Mr Chisholm was one of the main campaigners in South Street last week urging people to have their say about the proposed Charles Street development in Dorchester.

They manned a stand outside Barclays and urged people to lodge objections to the scheme on planning grounds – particularly new £10.7million offices for West Dorset District Council.

Mr Chisholm took part in three days of cries against rivals from around the world in Chester.

Thirty-eight town criers took part in the tournament with hopefuls coming from Europe as well as America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

He delivered three cries before the grand final but also celebrated the links between Dorchester and Chester – another Roman town – by delivering a greeting in Latin from the county town.

The top prize went to Chris Wyman representing Kingston, Ontario, Canada, with joint runners-up Martin Wood of Shrewsbury and Richard Riddell of Anacortes, Washington, USA.

Mr Chisholm said: “They were a great bunch to be with and I had an enjoyable time.

“I delivered the message and they were very impressed.

“A lot of people had a lot of fun, including the audience which was surprisingly large.”

He added: “It is good to see a local authority with the vision and imagination to put on an event like this.”

The world tournament title is the only crying honour to elude Alistair to date – his trophy cabinet already contains three British championship and seven national championship titles. In 1999 he was runner-up at the world tournament.

Dorchester was known as Durnovaria in Roman times, while Chester was known as Deva.

The event was organised by Chester Renaissance, an organisation set up by Northwest Regional Development Agency and Cheshire West and Chester Council.