COLWALL residents will be turning out in force next weekend for the ancient ceremony of wassailing.

The Wassail is a traditional Old English midwinter festival designed to wake up the apple trees and encourage them to produce a good harvest.

This year it is taking place on Saturday, January 14, and revellers are encouraged to turn out at Colwall Stone, in the centre of the village, at 5.30pm, in good time for the ceremony to begin at 6pm.

Helen Stace, of Colwall Orchard Group, which organises the event, said: The wassail is a firm favourite in the village calendar and we wassail whatever the weather. Our first wassail was held in gale force wind and rain and our most memorable was in deep sparkly snow on a still moonlit night.

"We gather in at Colwall Stone where we start proceedings with wassail dancing with Old Meg. Then we light up our torches for the torch lit procession from Colwall Stone to Colwall Community Orchard.

"Once gathered in the orchard, the butler leads the wassailing ceremony. The butler is blacked-up for anonymity, in the old days so that he could safely make scurrilous comments about the landed classes."

The ceremony involves circling the largest tree in the orchard; pouring a libation of cider on the tree roots, lifting a small boy, known as Tom Tit, into the tree to put toast in the branches and making lots of noise to drive away evil spirits. After the ceremony, there will be food and drink and wassailing songs around the bonfire.

Mrs Stace said: "We welcome everyone to come along. Please wear silly hats and clothing suitable for the weather, including boots or wellies, as the orchard may be muddy. Bring children, torches, lanterns, pots, pans, wooden spoons, horns, whistles, a singing voice if you have one and your sense of fun.

"We ask for a donation of £3 per adult for the event and will be selling hand held wax flares before the event and hot food and drink after the ceremony. All funds raised will be used to support Colwall Orchard Group and help us to conserve traditional orchards."

To find out more, visit colwallorchardgroup.org for more details including instruction for making your own wassailing lanterns, notes on wassailing and the wassailing song sheet.