On 7th January, local residents joined TRESA to give a warm welcome to 2017 with the fifth annual wassailing at the community orchard in Park Street and on Zone A, Wells Road.
We had a crowd of over 20 people starting in the community space with a drink of cider / apple juice before heading towards the trees brandishing pots, pans, drums and other instruments to make some noise that would awaken the trees. We sang a short song and learned about the history of wassailing.
We then “toasted” the tree by sticking cider-soaked toast into the branches and pouring cider onto the roots of the largest tree. We selected the Large apple tree in the Orchard that is a variety unique to Totterdown (we had it tested!).
Following this we then processed to Zone A on the Wells Road to wassail the apple trees and take down the Christmas decorations.
We look forward to the next wassail in 2018.