Hampshire husband and wife town crier pair want to show the traditional role is more than ‘the big beard and big belly’

A Hampshire-based couple said they love to put their “own spin” on being town criers by having a lead female and a male deputy, which is “very rare” for the age-old profession dating back to 1066 in the UK.

Faye Thompson, a children’s entertainer, said she initially got scouted by Petersfield Town Council after she regularly brought two giant toy orangutans into the town centre to make strangers smile during the pandemic in 2021.

She said this led to being asked to “have a bit of a laugh” with people waiting in line for their Covid-19 vaccinations and then she was encouraged to enter a town competition in January 2023 to become Petersfield’s town crier.

Faye said winning the voluntary role was the most “amazing moment” of her life and she has done some “fantastic” events since, including town crying at nine King’s Coronation parties, the opening of an ice cream shop, the planting of a tree, and officiating over a peace treaty between the neighbouring towns of Gosport and Portsmouth who never officially settled their differences since the English Civil War between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads.

Within a year, Faye said she approached the council to make her husband, Martin Johnson, her deputy and they “voted him straight in”, so now they often swap out their roles when necessary.

Martin told PA Real Life: “We do everything together because being married to Faye is a lot of fun.”

On being a husband-wife town crier couple, Martin said: “The traditional town crier is the big beard and big belly, but these are modern times. The role of the town crier has changed.

“So, me being a modern man, I’m quite happy to be consort to my wife,” he added.

Faye said: “Martin really does support me in pushing me forward. Especially when every now and then, I can ring the bell and say to him, ‘Can you make me a cup of coffee please?’

“There aren’t that many lady town criers… it’s lovely to be embraced like this,” she added.

Faye said her background is in spa and therapy, but she has always loved the “laughter and merriment” of being a children’s entertainer.

In September 2021, Faye got her first orangutan toy, Lemonade, at Monkey World in Weymouth and immediately noticed the positive reaction it got from passers-by. Within a few months, Faye got her second orangutan, Daisy, as a gift from a friend.

While she was furloughed during the Covid-19 pandemic, Faye said she asked herself: “What can I do to cheer everybody up?”

Faye said she started bringing the orangutans out into the town with her, like the local tattoo parlour, who tattooed Lemonade and pierced Daisy’s ear. She also asked her local Tesco if she could walk up and down the shopping aisles with the monkeys to try to make people smile by putting on a voice for the orangutans and saying hello to families.

“I’ll never forget this lovely older man,” Faye said, “He was just pushing his trolley and I was very careful with distance, but as soon as he saw my orangutans, he said ‘oh my goodness, that’s really made my day’.

“You could see his whole persona change,” she added.

Faye said people are always asking her to “get your ‘tans out”, so she would leave one of them in shop windows to make people smile and a friend of hers even made a Facebook page to chronicle their adventures around town.

It was this positivity that Faye said attracted the local town council, who invited Faye to raise people’s spirits during the rollout of the booster Covid-19 vaccination in late 2022 and then at another event where they planned to promote small businesses in the area.

Faye said: “They wanted somebody to be jolly, so they got me to just go up and down some of the queues and have a bit of a laugh with them.”

Martin said Faye essentially “proved” to the council that there was appetite for a town crier, so they decided to host a competition to appoint one.

Faye signed up and Martin said he decided to throw his “hat in the ring” to liven things up after just one other man signed up but had to pull out.

The pair said they had to do the same proclamation each: “Oyez! Oyez! Oyez! Let it be known that on this day, January the 28th 2023 at midday, the historic market town of Petersfield in Hampshire will appoint its first town crier. God save the King!”

On announcing the winner, Faye said: “It was a bit of a drum roll and then they said, ‘We will give the role to… Faye!’

“Oh my goodness, it was just a really amazing moment of my life. I vowed then that it is a position of power, and I will not misuse it,” she added.

The same day Faye won the Petersfield town crier competition, she said a local wrestler named Astrid the Viking approached her to announce a match of hers and shout: “Beware! The Vikings are coming!”

Faye said she secured a costume from a “lovely” local seamstress ahead of May 2023, when she attended nine separate Coronation street parties to announce “God save the King”, which she said was “amazing”.

Ever since, Faye said she’s been “very honoured” to officiate events, including the opening of a local Hampshire man’s garden after it was made wheelchair accessible, as well as a charity fundraising event where people were locked into stocks while wet sponges were thrown at them.

After Martin officially became Petersfield’s deputy town crier in January 2024, the couple said they’ve competed in town crying competitions together, bringing their stuffed toy sheep mascot, Peter S Field, to highlight their town’s farming history.

Faye said: “We shout out about our hometown. It’s really tourism in effect. It’s a spectacle.”

Martin added: “It’s about 20 people all dressed up and taking it in turns to do two cries each. And they judge people on things like clarity, loudness.

“They also judge people on who is the best dressed. And it’s just an excuse for all these eccentric people to get together,” he said.

Faye and Martin said they were thrilled to take part in an event in February with Innocent that brought town criers from across the UK together to shout about the benefits of adding more fruit and vegetables to people’s morning diets.

Faye and Martin said they’ll continue to be Peterfield’s town criers for “as long” as they “possibly can” because they love spreading joy so much.

Martin said spreading joy kept the pair going: “There’s a lot of negativity in life so I think it’s important to counterbalance that and to not dwell on it.

“We’re cheerful people. We love dressing up. We’re actors. We like being out there among people.

“It’s about bringing communities together. I think it’s more important now than it’s ever been,” he added.

As new research reveals 83% of Brits do not eat their five-a-day, Innocent drinks has enlisted the nation’s town criers to shout about the benefits of starting the day right with fruit and vegetables.