Musical tribute for town crier's 40 years

Town crier Martin Wood listens as the choir perform the song written in his honour

A community choir has thanked its local town crier by performing a specially-written song to mark his 40 years in office.

Martin Wood, who has been recognised as the world's tallest town crier at 7ft 2in (2.2m), has been marking civic occasions in Shrewsbury since 1984.

The Of One Accord Choir sang a version of ABBA's Thank You for the Music, with words written about Mr Wood by journalist Katy Rink.

The performance took place on Sunday at Shrewsbury Food Festival in the town's main park, the Quarry.

The chorus to the track states: "So we say thank you from Shrewsbury, the years you've given / Thanks for all the bells you've rung and / Who would be without you? / We ask in all honesty / Where would we be? Without our big town crier what are we? / So we say thank you from Shrewsbury / For doing it for me."

Ms Rink, from the MyShrewsbury magazine, said the musical tribute was a thank you "for serving our town for the last four decades".

Mr Wood responded to the rendition, saying: "Thank you guys, that was absolutely wonderful. Is it going to go to number one?"

Shrewsbury has also marked Mr Wood's contribution with an exhibition at the town's museum this summer, and the town crier is giving a talk about his exploits, Have Bell, Will Yell, on 9 July.