ENGLISH Bicknor's Wassail on Saturday was a great success – made quite magical by the snow!

Around 50 villagers and friends met at the Village Hall and processed through the snow to the nearby orchard (owned by Brian and Gill Carne) ringing bells, banging saucepans and drums and carrying flaming torches specially made by Gareth Maxfield.

There they gathered around the strongest apple tree and Master of Ceremonies, Peter Hester, led the blessing of the tree and anointed it with cider to wake the tree and encourage it to bear a good crop of apples this year.

The ladies in the gathering adorned the tree with cider drenched toast and shots were fired into the boughs of the tree to ward off evil spirits. Traditional Wassailing songs were sung, accompanied on the piano accordion by Ann Harvey.

The Wassail cup was passed around (hot mulled cider!) for each person to toast the tree.

Some Wassailers had learned a dance specially for the occasion, loosely based on Morris Dancing. They made their own outfits and musical instruments, and wore hats decorated with pheasant feathers, specially made for the occasion by Joan and Gareth Maxfield (mother and son).

"We hope that this will be just the first of many Wassails – we're already planning another Wassail for the same time next year," said spokesperson Kate Fyffe.