From struggling to speak to Tewkesbury town crier - how one man is inspiring others with stammers

• Ken Goodwin meets Tewkesbury's new town crier Richard Whincup

A Tewkesbury man who had a stammer for decades has now been named town crier.

Richard Whincup hopes his appointment to the role can help be an inspiration to anyone who has ever suffered from the condition.

Richard told ITV News West Country: "I suffered chronically with a stammer until the age of 19 when I found information about the McGuire programme.

"I joined the programme nearly 25 years ago and it helped to control my speech and it gave me the weapons and the mindset to control my stammer.

"And since then all the jobs I have had have been speech related jobs because I have wanted to challenge myself."

The McGuire Programme combines breathing and speaking techniques with mental strategies. According to their website, it is run by people who have stuttered instead of speech therapists.

Richard got the job of town crier after an audition in which he read out a poem he had written. He says a lot has changed since he was growing up with a stammer.

He added: "The 1980s and 1990s were a different place to now, people did used to take the mickey out of my speech, there was a lot of imitation, there was a lot of laughter and finger pointing. Now it's more accepted."

The British Stammering Association, now known as STAMMA, says people like Richard are inspirational.

Joanna Gaukroger, from STAMMA, said: "For more then 20 years he has worked his way up from being unable to say very much at all, to now being town crier, university lecturer and doing lots of different things.

"And that would have made a huge improvement to his confidence and I would like to think inspires anyone with a stammer to think about how they can help themselves and take advantage of all the services available to them."