When Ilfracombe Town Crier Roy Goodwin first pitched his holiday tent in the North Devon resort back in 1959, it was to mark the beginning of a life-long association with the Victorian town.

“I was in my early 20s and there was just something about the great charm of the place with its lovely old buildings, green hills and White Funnel Fleet paddle steamers visiting the pier, that I fell in love with,” he recalled.

“Call in boring if you like but from that first truly memorable holiday, I visited Ilfracombe every year until retiring here with my wife Bee in 1988.

The White Funnel Fleet has long since sailed into the sunset but its place has been taken by the Waverley Steam Navigation Company’s motor vessel Balmoral and famous paddle steamer Waverley which call at Ilfracombe during the summer season.

And when they arrive, Roy dressed in his magnificent Town Crier robes, is sure to be found on the quay, ringing his bell and welcoming her holiday-making passengers to the town.

“Oyez, Oyez, Oyez” he cries. “Ilfracombe welcomes everyone with a smile on their face and a pound in their pocket. We allow you to keep the smile but when you go home, please do remember to take with you at least one seagull.”

Roy, now aged, 74, spent most of his working life in farming in Warwickshire, where he grew up in the small village of Eathorpe, and also in Northamptonshire.

He has always been a bit of a showman so much so that in his 40s and 50s he  also ran a disc show,  known as Cornsounds laying records and generally entertaining with a dance and gag routine. 

So when he moved to Ilfracombe and the town decided to launch an annual Victorian Festival, it was only natural that he and his wife Bee should want to get involved.

And then when the Town Crier retired, fun loving Roy with his booming voice and larger than life character, became the obvious successor.

He is the eighth to be officially appointed since 1810 and as also a member of The Ancient and Honourable Guild of Town Criers and the Loyal Company of Town Criers, he has taken to the honorary post like the proverbial duck to water.

Besides going about the town and the promenade with his trusty hand bell meeting and greeting visitors and attending local functions, Roy has become an important ambassador for Ilfracombe by competing in Town Crier competitions around the UK and overseas.

“We are judged on our volume, clarity of diction, appearance and other town crying attributes,” he explained.  “It’s all great fun and does quite a lot to raise the flag for our wonderful Ilfracombe.”

That Roy has become singularly successful at town crying, with the assistance of his equally enthusiastic official escort Bee, is amply demonstrated by the fact that he is current Devon Champion and has won no less than 19 trophies for one class or another so far this year.

His latest triumph was at Devon’s famous Widdecombe Fayre where he came first, but he has not limited his horizons to the UK.

For Roy and Bee have twice visited Belgium and have also competed in the world championships in Maryborough, Queensland, Australia, back in 2003 where he was placed a commendable 28th out of some 90 competitors.

“One of the most memorable experiences of that trip was our visit to our small namesake town of Ilfracombe,” said Roy.

“It was a pretty tiring 24-hour train ride from Brisbane but when we stepped onto the platform in all our regalia, we were welcomed like royalty by the Mayor and councillors and pretty much everyone in the town and we enjoyed it so much that we are returning soon,” he revealed. 

Roy’s magnificent costume, hand made in Ilfracombe, is that of an officer of the 13th Regiment of Foot back in 1747.

And its brilliant red colour, which is matched by his consort Bees’ costume, is  also commemorative of the town’s 18th Century heroine Betsy Gammon who saved her town and the country from invasion be the French.

As Roy explained:”

“The men folk of Ilfracombe were away at the war when two French frigates sailed up the Bristol Channel and moored off the coast of Ilfracombe.

Betsy saw them and afraid that they would land, summoned all the women of the village by the banging of a drum to line up on the hills behind the sea front. 

Woman of those days wore red flannel petticoats and on Betsy’s signal they draped them over their shoulders so that from their position at sea, the French thought there was a garrison of Redcoats defending the town.

Her clever trick worked and the French quickly weighed anchor and sailed to Wales where they did land but were soon rounded up so ending the last invasion of England.”

Roy said that Betsy’s famous drum and a portion of her petticoat could still be seen in the town museum today.

Local history has always been a fascination for Ilfracombe’s Town Crier so much so that another of his honorary duties is to give talks about the past, including the history of town crying.

“I do enjoy giving these talks, which also include some of the fun and adventures we have had while representing our much loved Ilfracombe, and I do hope I can go on for many more years to come,” said Roy.

“So if when in our fair town, or indeed anywhere else in the world, you should chance upon an elderly man in red with a bell in his hand and a lady in red on his arm, then do come up and say hello because there is good chance that it will be me,” he said.

Published Autumn 2009.

See also Roy’s Page on The Ilfracombe Town Crier