Ledbury's Bill Turberfield has been offered a blank cheque to compete in the world town crier finals in Australia.

The offer has been made by Ian Martin, who is selling the town's Royal Oak to Penn Street Taverns.

He said the gesture was a way of saying "thank-you to the town for having me" after three years.

Mr Martin, who hopes to finalise the sale details this week, will stay in the local area but said he needed a change of scene from the Royal Oak.

He approached Mr Turberfield in the street on Saturday to make his generous offer.

He joked: "It's for a bit of peace and quiet - anything to get Bill out of town!

"Actually, I had spotted the collecting jars about town for his trip and each one was about one inch deep.

"So I decided to support him. It's no problem."

The blank cheque Mr Martin has offered is likely to be in the region of £3,000.

The money Mr Turberfield has collected already in sponsorship will stay in his town crier account at Lloyds and will help pay for him to compete in other prestigious competitions, including the European championships.

It has been a red-letter week for Ledbury's town crier, who has just learnt that he is seeded in the top 30 for the finals in Maryborough, Australia, in September.

Mr Turberfield, who will be travelling to Australia with his wife Enid, said: "I'm absolutely over the moon by this offer.

"I've done very little for Mr Martin, except I direct people to most public houses in Ledbury if they ask.

"I was just dumbfounded when he approached me. He just told me that he thought I was worth it."