Town crier brought colour around the world
Dear Sir,
As Stephen Norbury has stated I am not bland and bring a flash of colour, history, and culture into what can be a lackluster event. Let me describe a little of my background.
My enactment uniform of the 57th Regiment of Foot was the forerunner of the Middlesex Regiment, named after the county in England taking in London and St. Paul’s Cathedral as its spiritual centre. Yes Cockneys! As an infantryman reservist in this regiment I had mates who dug holes in roads for a living or were gasfitters and insurance salesmen. We mucked in together as we went out on reconnaissance patrols.
On emigrating to Canada I spent many years teaching crafts and building maintenance to Indigenous peoples, the former winning prizes at the Edmonton Klondike Festival. In Northern Canada I have won snowshoe races, packed 650 lbs. of flour and sawn logs faster than anybody else. I have built igloos, taught myself to roll kayaks and medaled in long distance canoe racing.
In my world travels I have visited most European countries, walked over the Swiss Alps and found time to study the Swiss carving industry. In the southern hemisphere I have travelled through Japan, visiting the two atomic bomb centres of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Australia and New Zealand I covered by bus and hitchhiked at the ripe old age of 55.
In my town crier outreach mode I have visited Sydney and welcomed the first spring ferry from the U.S. and encouraged them to visit our totem poles, boutique shops and vineyards. A little further afield, Kingston, Ontario, I have cried the virtues of the Cowichan Valley in front of 2,000 tourists and locals.
I bring to the job of town crier a broad range of experience from around the world and have no problem in putting at ease any visitor or tourist to the city.
My square toed boots are spit and polished, creases razor sharp and my shirt impeccably ironed. My tonsils and six-litre lungs are in fine fettle.
It has been a pleasure to represent the City of Duncan and the greater Cowichan Valley.
Yours sincerely,
Ben Buss
Cowichan
