That’s the historical title given to the Bellman in Northumberland’s County Town.  The Burgesses are the Freemen of the town and they have been responsible for arranging this appointment for many hundreds of years. The official title is rather cumbersome and is therefore shortened affectionately to “The Common Bellman”.   John Stevens is the incumbent Common Bellman.  His first appointment was as Bellman to Alnwick Fair in 1983 when he won a competition to replace the previous Bellman.  John’s work took him to London & Scotland from 1990 until his retirement in 2002, when he moved back to Alnwick; became a Fellow of the Loyal Company of Town Criers and a Fellow of the Britannic Guild of Toastmasters.

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Sincere thanks to Mark Pinder for this amazing photograph above.  More of his extraordinary work can be found at  www.markpinderphotography.co.uk