Wassail 2016

There's not been much action recently but one event that does continue is the annual Wassail at Hilly Fields! This year it will take place on Sunday 7th February, 4pm.

We will meet by the Stone Circle adjacent to the orchard.

To see details and reports of previous wassail events please click here

Hilly Fields Wassail 2014

Every year since the orchard at Hilly Fields was planted we have held a wassail event which has always proved to be much fun and this year was no exception with a great turn out on a mild Sunday afternoon. With new additions to the orchard this year it was decided that one of the new trees should be dedicated to the memory of Fran Rogers who was instrumental in the creation of the orchard. We're very pleased that Fran's family could attend the wassail event and it was fitting that Fran's wassail song that was specifically penned for this event was sung again. The musical nature of this event has improved considerably over the last couple of years with the additions of an accordion, guitar and drum! Each tree in the orchard was toasted and we're happy to report that the orchard is doing very well and we look forward to the 5th birthday event in January 2015. If you would like to be more involved with the orchard please email us!

Waes Hael 2014!

The annual wassail at Hilly Fields Orchard is taking place on Sunday 23rd February at 4:30pm. This will be the fourth event and has proved very popular! Please see details on the flyer below.

Waes Hael!

Sunday 27th January saw the annual Wassail take place at the orchard on Hilly Fields. Last year was a rather snowy affair and we just missed that this year alas melted snow makes for a very wet ground under foot!

This year was arguably the best wassail yet as we improved on the whistles and pots from previous years with the addition of an accordion and violin to help us along with the singing of traditional and improvised wassail songs. After toasting all the trees in the orchard we finished off with a tasty hot drink rich in the traditional of wassail.

Toasting the trees

Pre-toasting singing

Hilly Fields Events - Sunday 27th January

A busy weekend of events in Lewisham coming up with the demonstration against the closure of Lewisham A&E on Saturday and two events in Hilly Fields on Sunday.

First up sees Hilly Fields taking part in a national survey,  The Big Birdwatch. Details below:

Following the bird watching is the return of the annual Wassail event at the orchard. Details below:

Meet at the Orchard on Hilly Fields!

Hilly Fields Orchard Wassailing - an artistic view

Back in February we held our second wassailing event at the orchard on Hilly Fields. Amongst the group was a  local artist, John Kerry, who as I think you'll agree has managed to really capture the essence of the day, bounding around in snow and wishing the trees well!

2011 Wassail at Hilly Fields

Let the wassailing begin!

The previous day's heavy snow could not prevent the second annual wassail at Hilly Fields orchard on Sunday 5th February. Details of last years inaugural event can be found here. This year's event was attended by around 15 people made up of orchard leaders, carers and others who just wanted to join in the fun! Accompanying the  traditional wassailing equipment of cider and toast was some hot spiced apple which was very welcome as we made our way through the snow whilst night began to descend. We also took the opportunity to check up on other new fruit and nut varieties including Quince, Walnut and Greengage which have been planted in the park in recent times and are happy to report that all our doing well.

Warding off the spirits and wishing them well with a drop of ale

It's time to wassail again!

Wassailing on Hilly Fields - January 2010

It's time to wassail (wish good health to) our fruit trees on Hilly Fields  for 2012, so with this in mind, we are meeting at the orchard site next to the Stone Circle on

Sunday 5 February from 4.00 to 5.00pm

(earlier this year to make it more child-friendly). 

Each tree will be wassailed with our Hilly Fields Wassail Song, a sprinkling of cider or ale and a piece of toast.  We then need to make lots of noise to make the evil spirits go away.  Please bring the necessary goodies for your tree. The words for the Wassail Song are copied below for you to print and bring along, and whistles, rattles or pots and pans will do a great job for despatching any tree-unfriendly spirits!

A bowl of warm mulled apple-juice has been promised as per last year - very welcome, thanks!

Although this is addressed to the orchard carer group, everyone is welcome to come along and celebrate the first successful year of growth (thanks to their committed 'carers') of our very young fruit trees.

Words to the Wassail Song - to the tune of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas':

We wish you much bud and blossom,
We wish you much bud and blossom,
We wish you much bud and blossom,
And a healthy root growth.

We wassail to you, may you prosper and thrive,
We wassail and toast thee, our fair young apple tree.  (You have to say fair and young quite quickly together)

See you there!

'appy New Year!

So as we enter the new year we have plenty to discuss and do for the forthcoming year. The first event coming up is our next meeting which will be on Thursday 19th January. Please note the venue is Mr Lawrence Wine Bar in Crofton Park. Meeting starts prompt at 7:30pm. This is a change from the previously advertised date of Wednesday 11th Jan.

As a reminder of some of the things we get up to one of our members kindly sent us some images of her granddaughters picking apples from last Autumn at one of our fruit harvesting events. With so many apples there was more than enough to be able to offer some free to passers by which brings us nicely onto something related which will be happening soon...wassailing! Following last years successful 'wassail' at the new orchard on Hilly Fields we are planning a repeat of the event sometime towards the end of January. More details soon.

Wæs hal! An old tradition returns to Brockley

A mild Thursday evening saw the return of an ancient tradition to the green hills of Brockley with a wassail at the new orchard in Hilly Fields park. Around 10-15 members of the community joined in the fun with the singing of songs, blowing of whistles, shaking of tamborines and much cider and toasting of the new trees. Could this be the start of an annual event at Hilly Fields?

More photos of the evening can be found on our Flickr site.

After the wassailing Transition Brockley held their first meeting of the year at Mr Lawrence's in Crofton Park. Lots of new ideas were discussed for the forthcoming year including the continuation of the Brockley Community Garden at the station, possible involvement with the River of Flowers project and setting up an energy group to inform and help people in their homes.

Hilly Fields Wassail and meeting reminder

Just to remind everyone that tomorrow night sees us celebrate and give blessing to the new orchard on Hilly Fields. Wrap up warm, bring a drink (cider or apple juice would be appropriate), maybe a torch and join in the fun. Most of us are pretty new to all this however there should be at least one person who knows what they're doing! Meet at the orchard next to the stone circle at 7pm.

If we haven't all frozen and got a bit giddy from drinking cider* and singing to trees then we will be heading off to Mr Lawrence  around 7:45pm for our first general transition meeting of the year to discuss activities planned/unplanned for the forthcoming year.

Hope to see as many of you there as possible!

*I should stress that this won't bear any resemblance to any visions you may have of drunken Brockleyites in a park, quite the opposite I should imagine!

Wæs hal!

Apple-tree, apple-tree,

Bear good fruit,

Or down with your top

And up with your root.
 

(19th century rhyme from South Hams area)

 

On Thursday 3rd February 7-7:45pm as a first celebration of the orchard and to wish the trees good health (wassailing) is a custom we'd like to embrace. As we are novices, all ideas are welcome and apart from the description at the end of this email (which probably has the main elements of a good wassail), there is a lot of information and YouTube videos on the internet if you google "wassailing orchards" to find out more. Some people have very elaborate celebrations but I think we can mould our own particular Brockley version. If anyone wants to write a suitable wassail song for new trees (to a familiar tune), that would be great!

 

Send us your ideas. We're all new to this, so it'll be a fun event to create as a group.

Initial thoughts are for people to bring some warm (apple type of) drink (in thermos) and pieces of toast and something to make a bit of noise (drum, whistle etc), and then we can toast each tree with a splash of warm cider/apple juice, wedge a piece of toast in the wire mesh for the birds, and then have a bit of a bang to scare away any evil spirits or pests which might cause disease. However, we'll collect your ideas and send an email nearer the date with any specifics.

We're meeting up at 7.00pm so that it isn't too late for children to come along.

Waissailing
 

Each year in January the people of Somerset, Devon, Worcestershire, Sussex and Kent, the traditional cider making areas of England wassail their apple trees to ensure a fine crop of cider apples in the summer ahead.

 

Apple tree wassailing is an ancient custom that involves drinking to the health of the apple trees. The Anglo-Saxons used the phrase Wæs hal! as an everyday greeting. Wæs is a form of the verb "to be" related to modern English was. Hal is the ancestor of the modern English words whole and hale. Thus, wæs hal literally meant "Be healthy!".

Traditionally the custom involved the local farm-workers visiting the orchard after dark with shotguns, horns, food and a large pail or bowl of cider. Usually the best tree would be selected to represent the whole plantation. Cider would be poured over its roots and pieces of toast, or cakes soaked in cider would be placed in the forks of branches, or impaled on twigs; The wassail song would be sung or chanted as a blessing or charm to bring fruitfulness or even in admonishment not to fail in the coming year.

Following the wassail we will have our first meeting of the year...

...at Mr Lawrence Wine Bar at 8pm to have an informal and open chat/discussion about initiatives for 2011. Topics could include the River of Flowers project (creating Lewisham links to the planned interconnecting chain of meadow and wildflower habitat to help reverse the decline in pollinating insects ), energy saving, recycling, ban on plastic bags or anything that people are passionate about and would like to discuss and/or take action on.