THERE was quite a racket going on in Ilminster at the weekend thanks to an event full of noise and colour.

Local town criers and their escorts descended on the Market Square to battle it out to become the best in the business.

The criers paraded from Ilminster Arts Centre, along East Street to the Market House on Saturday morning.

Participants were judged by their volume, clarity, diction and expressiveness, while there were also awards for best dressed crier and best dressed escort.

Each crier first declaimed the virtues and beauties of his or her own home town, before performing a second cry on the theme of spring.