Apple Day, held at the Community Orchard, on 28th September, was a great success. Importantly, following a period of showery days the weather remained dry, with some pleasantly warm sunshine. A large number of visitors of all ages enjoyed watching and helping with the juicing of apples, some from orchard trees and some brought by people from their own trees.
Helping with the apple juicing
The Charlbury and Finstock Morris Dancers entertained and the walking stick maker and the wood carver attracted interest, while children had fun with activities provided for them, including decorating paper cubes prepared by an expert in origami.
As always, the refreshments available, mostly home-made, were in great demand, and the spiced apple juice extremely popular.
This year many of the trees have produced an exceptionally large crop, and whether or not you believe that the rites of wassailing have had their effect, the singing and dancing involved is good fun and the placing of slices of toast on the trees (after soaking in something stronger than water!) is an intriguing ancient tradition which we maintain.
This year both men and women entertained with Morris dancing
Admission to the Apple Day festival is free and there is no charge for the refreshments, but donations are requested and this year amounted to around £500, a total as exceptional as the number of apples on the trees; after costs are deducted, a very welcome sum will be left to help with the upkeep of the orchard. As a community orchard, everything produced by the fruit trees, plus the soft fruit, is of course free to pick when ripe.
See you next year!