THE fruit trees at Alcester Community Orchard were serenaded and toasted with cider at the first of what is hoped to be an annual Wassailing event in the town.
Wassailing is a pagan festival held in January to ‘wake the trees up’ with noise, music, and song in the hope they’ll produce a bountiful harvest in the autumn.
Wendy Sherwood from the Town Council said there was also a practical reason behind the celebration.
“The orchard was planted about eight years ago and it would take a volunteer two days to prune all the trees and we thought it would be a good idea to help him out and get the community involved,” she said.
And with copious amounts of mulled cider as well as tea, coffee and cake on offer, a crowd of people gathered on Monday to sing to the trees, prune them, and have a good time.
“What would take two days to do took us two hours which was great,” said Wendy.
“The plan now is to make it an annual event for all the community to come together and enjoy.”
