Friday, April 29, 2011

First Down's syndrome town crier proclaimed

Chesham's new town crier is believed to be the first person with a learning disability to be elected to the position.

William Ellis, 32, who has Down's syndrome, was officially proclaimed to the public on 27 April 2011. His first official duty will be at the town's royal wedding celebrations later today.



Shortly after the proclamation he revealed how he felt about being appointed. "This is just a wonderful opportunity and I'm very proud to do it," he said. "I am really looking forward to my year."

The duties of town crier will include promoting the town and attending community events, such as the Schools of Chesham Carnival and Christmas in Chesham.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

As someone with multiple learning disabilities I'd like to point out that Down's is a chromosomal disorder. They've probably had many criers with learning disabilities as they tend to go undiagnosed and most weren't described until very recently. Still, that's good of them to appoint him.

L said...

This may be a chromosomal disorder, but it definitely does have a learning disability component.