LAST Saturday saw Whitehaven's town crier do the annual Lamas Market Shout.

This involves reading out the Royal Proclamation granting the town the right to hold markets.

Although the traditional market has all but died out, the town still has markets run by TEG on King Street and Whitehaven Town Council, both of which bear their legitimacy from the original proclamation.

A spokesperson from the Office of the town crier said: "The annual reading is just one of the many ceremonial duties that Marc Goodwin the current crier performs each year, but it’s also the single most important.

"This year's Shout was witnessed by a small crowd including some visitors from Australia.

"Whitehaven is now the only town in the Cumberland Council area that still has a traditional Town Crier.

"They used to read out news for the masses in the days when illiteracy was the norm and they also performed semi-judicial roles, during executions among other things."

READ MORE: Whitehaven Town crier marks 350th shout over the weekend

When Marc is unavailable, the Town has also been able to call on retired St Bees schoolmaster, Anthony Payne to stand in for the role.

The crier is an independently run Civic Office. The Civic position is under the umbrella of the Town Council, and the committee that supports the crier are Marc Goodwin, Rob Romano (a former crier), Louise Savage, and Marlene Jewell.

Requests for the crier's services can be made via Louise in Richardsons or via Marc on the town crier's Facebook page.