Ledbury is in need of a new town crier, following the decision of Clive Gunn to stand down, due to ill health.

Mr Gunn, who has been Ledbury’s crier for three years, after taking over from Bill “The Bell” Turberfield, said the decision to hang up his tricorn hat had been a very difficult one.

He said: “I have enjoyed being town crier immensely; at the end of the day I’ve got a big mouth, which helps! - and I love meeting people in town. But I don’t like not being reliable and letting people down.

“But standing down is one of those moments when you know that what you are doing is the right thing.”

The Reporter understands that Mr Gunn has stood down with immediate effect, and that the Town Council, which appoints the town crier, had received his resignation email this week.

Mr Gunn, like Mr Turberfield before him, had become a popular figure in Ledbury, especially for visitors, many from overseas, who delight to meet a figure apparently straight from the annals of “Old England”.

Only in May, a group from the Mormon Heritage Association in the USA revisited Ledbury and the surrounding area to follow in the footsteps of their forebears.

One of the highlight was being welcomed by Mr Gunn under the Market House.

Mr Gunn, of course, was in his full regalia, which dates back in design to at least the eighteenth century.

Many Mormons emigrated in the nineteenth century from the Ledbury area to America, and visiting Ledbury has now become something of a pilgrimage for modern Mormons from the USA.