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Town crier crowned one of the world's loudest women

Jaimielee Rendallin Weeting
Jaimielee Rendall/BBC A woman smiles at the camera while standing in a garden, wearing green and red robes and a tricorn black hat with a red feather attached. She is holding two framed certificates that are Guinness World Records.Jaimielee Rendall/BBC
Brenda Willison holds the records for the loudest female town crier and loudest shout by a woman

A town crier who has spent nearly four decades turning heads with her voice has earned a place in the Guinness World Records as one of the world's loudest women.

Brenda Willison, who lives in Weeting, Norfolk, holds the titles for the loudest female town crier and for having the loudest female shout.

Willison, who has been a town crier in Newmarket, Suffolk, since 2013, reached 105.9 decibels while she was battling a cold to win the title, adding: "They wanted me to get over 100 decibels - and I did."

Yet she believed there was still room for improvement: "I reached 109 decibels at the British Championships a few years ago, so if somebody beats it, I'll be back!"

Willison, who has worked as a town crier across England since 1987, has competed around the world, including Australia, and in 1993 won the World Town Crier Championship in Niagara Falls, Canada.

While her latest Guinness World Record is based on volume, she was keen to point out that town crying was about much more than simply making the most noise.

Competitions are judged on clarity, diction, confidence and delivery, as well as loudness.

"Some people can be very loud, but you can't always understand what they're saying," she said.

"There is more to it than just shouting."

Jaimielee Rendall/BBC A woman wears red and green robes with a crest sewn on the back. The writing reads "Brenda Willison Town Crier of Newmarket". She is wearing a black hat with green, red and white feathers. She is standing in a garden and has a bell above her left shoulder. Jaimielee Rendall/BBC
Brenda has been a town crier across the country for almost four decades

Town criers have a history stretching back centuries, acting as official messengers long before the arrival of newspapers, radio and the internet.

Although the role remains active across the UK, Willison estimates about 10% of town criers in Britain were women and there were even fewer internationally.

She said when she took up the role "there were hardly any women doing it".

Despite now holding a world record for the power of her voice, Willison said there was no magic formula behind her success.

She said she occasionally uses throat pastilles and has tried honey and lemon, but added: "You learn how to use your voice and look after it - mostly, it's practise."

Jaimielee Rendall/BBC A woman stands in front of a red and green shed dressed in red and green robes. She is holding a bell and smiling. She is also wearing a black hat. Jaimielee Rendall/BBC
Brenda has a back garden pub that is aptly named The Crier

Willison said it was her family who first spotted her talent, when her daughters submitted an application on her behalf to become a town crier in Peterborough almost 40 years ago.

Willison, who at the time was managing cafés at Ferry Meadows Country Park in the city, recalled: "They wrote in and said if mum stood outside one café and shouted 'chips!', people would be able to hear her at the other one - a mile and a half away."

The endorsement worked and decades later she has become a two-time world record holder.

She said her family was not shocked by her achievements, adding: "My eldest daughter said, 'Well, it doesn't surprise me because you've always been noisy'.

"She reckons she can hear me in her house when I'm in the garden."

Willison added her husband was also equally unfazed: "He's had to put up with me for 54 years of being noisy!"

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