{"id":712736,"date":"2026-01-22T09:17:20","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/712736\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:17:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:17:20","slug":"wassailing-event-brings-the-sunshine-to-horsforth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/712736\/","title":{"rendered":"Wassailing event brings the sunshine to Horsforth\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jill Stocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Horsforth Community Garden<\/a> hosted a wassailing event on Saturday, hoping that the ancient ritual will help to bring growth in the coming year.<\/p>\n

Wassailing<\/a> is a new year tradition going back centuries, involving singing, poetry and loud noise, to encourage a good harvest for the year and bring the community together. <\/p>\n

Toast is placed in the trees to encourage the tree spirits and the roots of trees are wetted with cider, or in this case apple juice, to wish growth in the garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The word \u201cwassail\u201d is derived from a middle English toast which in the modern parlance translates as \u201cbe in good health\u201d and guests at a wassailing are also encouraged to don head-dresses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Horsforth Community Garden is one of the projects of Friends of Horsforth Hall Park<\/a> and is located in Horsforth Hall Park adjacent to the Japanese Gardens. Volunteers maintain its upkeep throughout the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Penny Pinn is the treasurer for Friends of Horsforth Hall Park and volunteers in the community garden and told us about the event.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cToday we\u2019ve had 50 people in Horsforth Hall Park in the community garden celebrating wassailing, an ancient British tradition, to bless the trees and hope they will fruit well next year.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019ve been joined by the Acappella Choir to sing some wassailing songs. People made apple cake from Horsforth apples, that otherwise would\u2019ve gone to waste, picked by local volunteers. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe poured apple juice on the trees saved from going to waste by the Community Cafe, and hung toast from the Community Cafe on the trees for the robins. And we\u2019ve made the sun shine.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Horsforth Music Centre Acappella Group<\/a> were on hand to perform a number of songs. David Blakeley told us a little about the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve probably been doing wassails for about five years. One of our fellow members actually has an orchard herself so we go and sing at her orchard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cSinging in general and enjoying yourself and entertaining other people is very important and unfortunately quite a lot of schools etc have taken music off the curriculum so I think it\u2019s important to keep it going and get out there.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Sponsored content<\/p>\n

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