Widecombe enjoys first Wassail !
Brenda Boston describes the founding of a new tradition in Widecombe that brought many people out on a cold night - with everyone enthusiastic to continue the annual event ...
Thank you to the many people who braved the cold, but beautiful evening, on Tuesday 30th January, to come to our debut Widecombe Wassail. Our small committee had prepared a fire, a fairy-lit venue and lots of hot mulled cider or juice to enjoy. We extended a warm welcome to all, including Widecombe Singers and Bridget, who had worked for the past few weeks on the songs.
We were also delighted to see that Jim Causley and Carl Allerfeldt had accepted our invitation and had brought an accordion and fiddle respectively to accompany us. Charles Stanniland was also present, who had helped with the planting last year.
The Parish field had been bequeathed long ago in 1983, by William Van Straubenzee, for the use of the parish and, after being grazed for the past 40 years, was finally planted as our Jubilee orchard last February, with much help from Geoffrey and Beth Fenton. The project was led by Philly and Michael Brown from Northway.
Gratitude was expressed to the many sponsors of the trees, whose names were shown on the lovely new notice board, along with the variety of apples planted.
Whilst we waited for the cider to be warmed, the Widecombe singers and musicians adjusted their torches and led us in three songs at various intervals in the proceedings. They were the Dartmoor Wassail, the Jacobstowe Wassail and the Heavitree Wassail.
After the first song a short explanation followed of the order of wassailing, explaining that we are mere beginners and new to it all! So we decided to conduct a controlled experiment.: The upper field would be wassailed and the lower field would not be.
Results will be published in the next 40 years and will provide entertaining reading for future orchard planters, parish council meetings, Rolling Along emails and the Parish Link or more probably “Alternatives to night sedation addiction for insomniacs”!
Crowning of the King and Queen.
As we were not anticipating children to be there and our trees are not even one year old, they were as yet not strong enough to support any weight. Therefore our Wassail King and Queen would not be placed in the tree, but instead be crowned and sit on thrones either side of a tree. Dawn Nosworthy and Geoff Bamsey were the chosen King and Queen with the possible hope of children joining us next year if things went well!
By the power invested in the Jubilee Orchard committee they were crowned with beautiful natural willow crowns as we bowed or curtsied to our royal couple Their role for the evening was to lead the people, starting by frightening away the evil spirits.
Their attempts at pulling faces was admirable They performed their duties without hesitation, leading the noise making and offered noise making equipment to their subjects, who joined a procession around the trees to music and lots of accompaniment ( saucepan banging, spoons, drums).
We also had Philly and Jane on the ladle and Michael beating the flames. A starter gun was fired, followed later by Mike Pascoe’s gun. Not sure if this alone would have kept the children away!
By Song 2 there were no bad spirits left so then the King and Queen led the blessing of the trees.
Queen Dawn had a toast or two prepared and poor King Geoff held a wassail bowl of cider on his lap and tried not to get wet. People were invited to visit both and then offer the cider-dipped toast to the trees.
Again there was a musical procession to ensure all trees were blessed. I think this was a less popular activity but possibly because the mulled cider was warm now and going down well. We seemed to have a gathering of “ Drinkers with a singing problem”!
Song 3 was definitely a lot more slurred!
And lastly thanks were given to all for coming out that night, hoping that they all had had a good time and would stay for a while for something more to eat and drink. Great apple cake was on offer too and more cider.
To complete the wassail ceremony, we reflected and shouted some more!
We had banished the evil spirits. Hooray!
We had fed and nourished the young trees. Hooray!!
And before we finished the cider and moved on to the Rugglestone, we asked for blessings and expressed our gratitude:
Three cheers for the Queen, Hip Hip Hooray
Three cheers for the King, Hip Hip Hooray
Long live the Queen.
Long live the king
Three cheers for the singers and musicians, Hip hip, hooray
Three cheers for the orchard and each apple tree that grows on it. Hip hip, hooray
God bless the trees
Let’s have a drink!
It was a lovely evening and we have had some great feedback. Thank you so much to all of you that came. I think it is something we will definitely do again.
Thanks so much to Jim and Carl who came to the Rugglestone and sang a little bit more with us. They were fantastic.
Thanks also to the mulled cider makers. It was great cider and I’ll stop now because I can’t remember anything much after that! Did I thank you all for coming?
So thank you all from the bottom of my cider tankard!
Brenda Boston