A THOUSAND-year record was broken in Hatherleigh last week when the town's first ever lady town crier officially took up her bell.
And Ros Chard is already getting into the swing of things, as she announced the switch-on of Hatherleigh Christmas lights on Monday.
The position became vacant recently when the previous town crier, Steve Beresford, moved away.
Ros said: 'Various people thought I'd make a good town crier — they asked me to a Court Leet and I gave them a bit of a rendition.
'It's all quite exciting really.'
Ros said she was very much looking forward to her new role and she already had several events booked in.
'I'm an extrovert person anyway and I enjoy socialising as much as I can.
'My profession used to be with horses so I'm used to yelling at various pony club people!' said Ros.
She said she has 'a good set of lungs' and foresaw no problems with getting herself heard.
'I'm also hoping to go into the history of it. This was another reason for doing it — I believe in keeping all traditions going, I think it's very important.
'So far, I've found out there are about 250 criers in the world, 160 in Britain and 30 in Devon.'
And Ros doesn't intend to keep her talents in Hatherleigh — she wants to enter town crying competitions, too.
Mayor of Hatherleigh Dennis Bater said he was 'delighted' that Ros had become the new town crier.
'I'm very much in favour of equality,' he said.
'She's very enthusiastic, she wants to do the job, that's the main thing — and by God, can she shout!'
Mr Bater also hoped some new breeches could be run up for Ros as the inherited costume had been worn by several previous criers and were becoming 'a bit tatty' — apparently the last ones were a converted pair of policeman's trousers!