Well, from the sunny day in Plymouth the day before, the good old British weather greeted us in Kingsbridge. We started of ok but soon the clouds gathered in and, as the song says, Down came the Rain!! But still it didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of our 19 criers & consorts.

It was a very close fought event with only 3 points separating the top three.

Bob Graham from Dawlish came top, his very first competition win, Mark Wylie from Calne came second & John Pitt from Plymouth was third. This leaves the Armada Cup wide open for the final round in Dartmouth. In the other results, our best dressed crier was John Griffiths from Sleaford who was presented with a new award this year, The Robin Griffin Memorial Plate, in memory of Robin, who was a stalwart supporter of my career in town crying. The best dressed Consort was Jennifer Smirthwaite from Liskeard and the best couple were Les and Liz Ellis from Dartmouth and the best ambassador was Terry Ford from Otley West Yorkshire.

I would like to say a BIG thank you to Roz Chard for making a visit to us after her recent spell in hospital, seems to have done her good though, she beat me in a cry off in Newton Abbot!! After the presentation of the awards, all the criers were treated to a free ride on the Victorian Carousel,

Bob and Heather were then treated to a ride in the carnival in an open top 1920’s Daimler! I would like to say thank
you to all the visiting criers and consorts for making the Armada weekend a really fantastic event.

Roger P